I have been trying to figure out why is the trend for searching term "web hosting" going down with every year since 2004. What do you think guys? http://www.google.com/trends?q=web+hosting
Because you can get free sites with blogging etc. If you want a better service, you can easily setup your own server in minutes too by doing it yourself. This generation are becoming very tech savvy and it's increasingly easier. Then you look at all the software out there that's used to keep your website online, suddenly "web hosting" in it's current term means nothing.
I somehow agree about blogging, but setting up your own server ain't as easy as it seems. Most people grow up with windows not linux and linux is still the most common hosting platform. Also, upload speed is still quite low for majority of the home connections. In 2004 there was very little blogging and when it became popular it gave an opportunity for people who were not familiar with html and css to start publishing, but sooner or later many serious bloggers end up hosting their blog on paid servers.
Hosting market is becoming a bit saturated with so many companies and some have even started with their own data centers at small scale. In a country like US, you can easily get high capacity bandwidth and connectivity, all the necessary equipments and software to start a small scale web hosting company. While major players are still ruling the market, they do have faced lot of competition. HostGator is still a reputed company and they have never remained behind when it comes to promotion. They are offering everything a user needs for a web hosting.
@Katatonic: I have to agree with both of you, the reason being is that yes, our younger generations are becoming more tech savvy than in the past, but that's because there are so many computers in use in schools and the world is ever changing to further technology and people need to keep up with the times. @mytor: I agree with you also, setting a server isn't as easy as it seems, but it is very possible, and it IS easier than before. Especially with windows. there are numerous tools that have been made to allow for that type of thing, heck, i have one running on my computer but as a development server. However, you have a very accurate point about the upload speed being WAY too slow. and this is because ISP's don't want everyone hogging bandwidth and all. Because the funny thing that most people dont understand is that TECHNICALLY, the upload and download speeds are exactly the same, but the ISP limits the upload speed, which screws the customers. And it also really prevents others from setting up their own web servers like we are discussing.
What I am thinking is that, maybe because web hosting is already advertised almost anywhere people dont feel the urge to search for the term anymore.
Because it's easier to ask advice at hosting forums then just search and use it without any feedbacks