In order to create a website which will be available online, you have to have two essential things:
- a domain name (eg supportexample.com)
- a hosting plan (the space on a server to host services for your domain - eg your web site, email, etc)
However, if you are a beginner, you might be questioning what exactly is the difference between web hosting and domain registration - and we are about to make things clearer for you.
What is Web Hosting?
Your web hosting plan covers the space and resources on a server for you to store your website’s content and files and make them available to other internet users. In addition to hosting your web site, you can also host other services for your domain with us, including e-mail addresses (eg
[email protected])
What is Domain Name Registration?
The domain is your web site's address. Without a domain name, your visitors would need to remember the IP address of your server - eg 74.125.130.106 which is one of the IP addresses used by Google.
However, instead of making visitors remember an IP address in order to get to a website, web site owners register domain names that would lead users to the correct IP address for their server. When you pay to register a domain name, you are in fact, leasing the right to use that for one year. If you don't renew your domain name, it will eventually be available for someone else to register after about 60-70 days from its expiry date.
Web Hosting vs Domain Name
So, in order to simplify things, consider the domain name as the address of your house, and the web hosting as the services available at that address.
Web hosting and domain registration can be easily mixed up because your hosting plan is linked to your domain name, and most people choose to purchase both of them from us, so your hosting invoice will mention the domain name for that hosting account. But, they are different services and both need to be renewed in order to keep your web site online.
