When we start a blog or join a Search Engine Optimization course, we often neglect basics. We are more interested in profits and starting work as soon as possible, instead of gaining the in-depth knowledge. If you go on and ask people the difference between a domain name and web hosting, they are often confused. They are still not clear about it. We are here to explain it in much detail. By the end of this article, you will feel more knowledgeable.
What Is Domain Name?
People visit your website through an address and that is a domain name. They type in the address in the form of a URL to visit your website. In simple words, you give people your address to reach your home and in case of a website, domain name acts as the address. It’s the same thing. The Internet is a giant network of computers as we all know and they are connected to each other through cables.
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IP Address is the one that acts as the identification of these computers. For example, 23.212.23.1. This is an IP address, a combination of numbers with dots. Now, it is easy for a computer to remember them but what about humans? We can’t remember these combinations for each website. A domain name is an alternative to these numbers. It is in the form of words so that you can remember it. For example, ours is blogtechie.com.
Know Domain and Subdomains
A domain has to be unique. For example, google.com. You cannot create another domain with the same domain name. You can register your domain with a domain registrar like Namecheap. In the case of subdomains, you can add it on top of the domain like mail.google.com. As long as your web host is providing this service, you can use it. Some people even claim that sub-domains are simply subfolders just like we create on our laptop. You use different categories but that’s not true in all cases. For example, mail.google.com is treated as a different domain by Google.
How Do I Register For A Domain Name?
Domain registrars are the ones that provide you with a medium to register your domain. The Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers governs the whole domain registration process.
Begin by thinking of a good name for your website. Just because you visited a site with an amazing name, you cannot create the same for your site. It has to be unique. You can prepare a list of various website names.
Now, you can search the domain name on the registrar’s website. For example, Namecheap or GoDaddy. It will show you whether it is available or not and even suggest similar domain names.
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In case, the domain name is available, you can straightaway buy it. Yes, the domain name is not free. There is some registration fee and you can make payment through PayPal or your credit card. Also, you need to fill in a few details like contact number, business, and name of the organization.
After successful payment, the registration process is complete and you can then move on to web hosting. You will come to know about it in the Web Hosting section.
What Is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is the place where all the files of your website are stored. We know that domain name is the address but web hosting is the actual house your domain name points to. When you enter a domain name in the URL box, it is translated into the IP address. The numbers combination that we have already told you about in the domain name section. This is the IP address of the web hosting company’s computer. The computer contains all the website’s files and that is something you get on the browser.
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Web hosting companies specialize in this process of storing and serving websites. They even offer various hosting plans to their customers. In fact, most of the hosting companies handle server maintenance work, root configuration, disaster recoveries, and much more.
How Does A Web Hosting Actually Work?
Consider the example of your own house. You store multiple things like clothes, furniture, bed, and more in it. Here, the difference lies in the things you store. You are going to store images, videos, documents, and more. It is a company that provides its computers or servers on rent to you.
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There are multiple services that web hosting companies provide. These also work as a domain registrars in some cases. So you can buy a domain and it will even manage your hosting as well. You can build your website using their website builder. Other than that, email hosting and server setup, software support are some of the value-added services that some providers give.
Types of Web Hosting
Web hosting is of four types.
#1: Shared Hosting
In this type of hosting, your website and other websites share the same server. These websites could range in hundreds to thousands. So they even share server resources like RAM and the CPU.
#2: Virtual Private Server Hosting
A virtual private server hosting is going to divide a server into virtual servers. So it will give you a dedicated server virtually but in reality, you will share it with a few other users.
#3: Cloud Hosting
It offers unlimited ability to handle high traffic. Just like the cloud, there are a lot of servers that work in the team together to host a couple of websites. So at a time, multiple computers are going to handle the traffic levels of multiple websites. So even if there is a spike in traffic it will handle it properly.
#4: Dedicated Server Hosting
If you want high control over your webserver then you can go for dedicated server hosting. So you are going to exclusively rent a server for your website. The server stores your sole website.
Final Words
The domain name and web hosting are necessary for any blog to go live. You cannot reach a house without its address and without a house, there is no point of having an address. So both of them work together to give you what you call a blog. Domain name and hosting are two different services. They work together to give your website life. Once you buy a domain, you have to buy a hosting service too.
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We hope you got complete information on them through this article. In case, you want to ask queries on the topic then feel free to contact us.
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