What is website hosting and domain registration?
So you are entering 'web space'. That's the trendy way of saying you are getting some kind of website!
How does your website go from the design stage to being seen on a mobile phone, computer or device?
I don't believe you need to know a lot about website 'tech' but it does pay to have some basic knowledge of it. Especially as Google look after businesses that have a Domain Name to operate under.
It's also good to know what you are paying for too!
When I first heard about web hosting and domain name registration it was all madness to me! So let's have a look at each and see if we can make sense of it.
Website Hosting
Imagine that you are writing a document on a computer and you need to save it to your computer’s hard drive. Well website hosting is a hard drive, online.
It is where all the files for your website are transferred and saved to another computer’s hard drive called a ‘host server.’
*A server is a computer designed for the purpose of serving other computers.
The owners of these servers are called ‘web hosting companies’. There are many out there from small private organisations to large companies like Crazy Domains or Go Daddy to name a few.
Domain Registration
Think of a domain as what it reads - a domain. Your domain. It's where Google knows where to look to find your website.
Every website on the internet has a unique number called an ip address that looks something like this 63.52.77.89 It would be impossible for anyone to find your website without one with all the millions of pages and websites out there.
An ip address is essentially a 'phone number' that your internet browser dials to get the information from your website back to you.
But rather than have this ip number on your business card whenever you give it out - it makes much more sense to have a name and one that resembles your business.
So a domain name is the address for your website. It often takes the form of your organisation's name and a standard Internet suffix, such as www.janeslandscaping.com.au or .net or .co. etc...
You can buy these names from a Domain Registrar. There are thousands of Domain Registrars like Crazy Domains. It doesn't matter where you buy your unique name from though they are all shared. So when www.janeslandscaping.com.au is purchased it is no longer available anywhere else. (different domain extensions may be available ie, .com.au to .net)
Domain Name prices vary from $5 - $1000's depending on it's popularity.
DNS (Domain Name Service)
So your domain name is registered somewhere and your website is hosted on a computer somewhere else out there on the internet.
( It's actually recommended to get the hosting and registration done at the same company for simplicity sake)
How then does your browser know that the domain name, www.janeslandscaping.com.au needs to point to your website? That's when the Domain Name Service (DNS) comes in.
The DNS is like a traffic controller pointing the website domain name to the folder holding your website. Then your internet browser retrieves the website to view on the device you are browsing from.
All this happens out there on what is called 'cloud technology'.
The reality is this is just scratching the surface! But I hope it gives you a little more understanding of how the process works.
Understanding Website and Domain hosting