The world of business is becoming increasingly digital, and having a website has become essential for companies of all sizes. Whether you’re a small business owner or a large corporation, having an online presence can help you reach new customers and expand your brand, however creating your website is just the first step. In order to have a successful online presence, you need to make sure your website is accessible, secure, and running smoothly. The words Domain and Hosting get thrown around quite frequently in the world of web development and production.
Let’s break it down a bit to help alleviate the confusion that may come from the technical words. You are not a web developer and we do not expect you to be one either, that’s our job!
First, let’s focus on the word Domain. A domain is like a unique address or name for a website. It’s what you type into the web browser’s address bar to get to a particular website. For example, “google.com” is a domain name for the Google website. You need to register and renew a domain name to use it for your website, and it’s important to have a unique domain name to help people find and remember your website.
Next, we are going to take a look at the word Hosting. Hosting refers to the service that allows a website to be accessible on the internet. In order for a website to be visible to people on the internet, it needs to be hosted on a server. A server is essentially a computer that’s always connected to the internet and is designed to store and deliver websites.
Hosting is an essential part of creating a website, as it enables your website to be accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Without hosting, your website would only exist on your local computer and wouldn’t be visible to the rest of the world. Think of hosting as the foundation of your website. Just like a house needs a strong foundation to stand tall, your website needs a reliable hosting provider to ensure it’s always up and running. Without hosting, your website would be nothing more than a collection of files on your computer. With hosting, your website is accessible to anyone with internet connection.
Here is an analogy to better understand hosting and domains.
Think of your website as a book that you have written. The book has a title (the domain name), images (visual elements), text (content), and maybe some pop-ups or links to other books (navigation). Just like a book needs to be stored somewhere for people to read it, your website needs to be stored somewhere for people to access it on the internet.
Now, imagine that you keep your book at home on your bookshelf. Even though you have written a great book, nobody else can read it because it’s not accessible to anyone else. In order for people to read your book, you need to take it to a library (the internet).
The library (the internet) has many shelves (servers) where books (websites) are stored. When you bring your book (website) to the library (internet) and put it on a shelf (server), anyone can check it out and read it (access your website).
The world of business is becoming increasingly digital, and having a website has become essential for companies of all sizes. Having an online presence can help you reach new customers and expand your brand.
