You can deploy a web project by using one-click publish or a deployment package:
- One-click publish refers to a feature in Visual Studio that lets you deploy directly from the Visual Studio IDE by clicking a button. Visual Studio connects to a destination server, copies project files to it, and performs other deployment tasks.
- A web deployment package is a .zip file that contains all the information needed for deployment. You create the package from the command line or in Visual Studio, and you install it on the destination server by using the command line or IIS Manager.
Which of these methods you use depends on your scenario and your personal preference. One-click publish is typically the best choice for smaller organizations that do not implement a continuous integration (CI) development process. You would typically deploy to a hosting company where your application runs either in a shared hosting environment or on a dedicated server. (In a shared hosting environment, a single server is used to host sites for multiple hosting company clients.)
Source: Web Deployment Overview for Visual Studio and ASP.NET