Talking to people about setting up a website feels like a waste of time.  They usually can understand what a domain name is, but when you try to explain web hosting, their eyes usually glaze over.

Now, I am really good at analogies and I love a good challenge, so I decided to figure out a way to explain what web site hosting was.  I was thinking that you could explain it as a store to put your business in.  For example, if you were looking for Marc’s Widget Store, then you could type in my website address and your computer would take you to my storefront (my web hosting) and show you what I have to offer.  This would be similar as to looking in the phone book, calling the number, and it connecting to where you were calling - all automatically.

Another friend I talked to referred to a website much like a file cabinet - it is an organization of information with related information stored in the same place.

Now you might wonder why you would want reliable web hosting instead of doing it yourself - and that answer is easy.  For the monthly fee you pay, there are people keeping an eye on your websites to make sure that they are never down (or they take the steps to correct the problem), they make sure that the server your site is on is secure (to prevent hackers) and they are there around the clock to help answer questions that you may have.

So, I hope that helps you to both understand why you need web hosting and what it is.