Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Differentiating between an ISP and a Host

Try not to confuse a host with an Internet service provider. You need both! Allow us to explain the difference by using a car analogy.

Think of your Web site as a car. The color, interior materials, CD player, and sunroof are all parts of a car that are visible — and those visible elements are comparable to your Web site. Although the car's engine might be hidden away under the hood, it gives the car its power. You can rev it up with lots of horsepower to provide that extra oomph, even though the only folks likely to see this part of the car are you and your mechanic! Those under-the-hood works are the same as your hosting service. You can choose more disk space and other extras that give your site more power. If the engine isn't running, your car doesn't work; similarly, if your host's server is down, so is your Web site.

Where does your access to the Internet enter this picture? That's your driving lane, of course! You can stay in the right lane (the equivalent of dial-up access) or hit the left lane for speed (broadband service). A tollbooth is the equivalent of the service provider that sells you access to the Net. As an added benefit, most ISPs provide both Internet access and Web hosting.