Web Hosting is the act of managing and maintaining web files (such as html files) on a computer called a web server that is continuously connected to the internet. This server has special server software that is designed to read requests from the internet and send a response containing the requested file.

When you sign up for web hosting, your username will have a folder created on the servers hard drive to contain your files. The server softwares registry will receive an entry stating that your domain name has files stores there and in what folder they are in.

When someone visits your domain name they are actually requesting the page (file) that is in the address window. That request will be sent to the server associated with the domain, where the server will read the request look for the file in the associated folder and send it back to browser that requested it to be displayed.

Companies that have these servers set up with the appropriate continuous internet connections sell space on their servers hard drives for you to store and host your files from. This allows you to manage your account very easily without all of the hassle of maintaining a web server. Web hosting plans can vary in price and feature but usually cost around $5 a month, and will provide you with more disk space and data transfer than you will probably ever need.