A beginners guide to web hosting and domain names
Sunday 1st November 2009 at 7:56 pm

Often people who want a new website aren't sure where to start or what's involved. This is a small article to help explain web hosting and domain names in simple terms for the average new website owner.

The definitions:

Domain name: A domain name is the "address" or URL of a particular website. For example, oliodesign.co.uk is a domain name.

Domain registrar: A domain registrar is a company who sell domain names, you pay for them on a renewal basis whereby you pay to own a particular domain name for a period of time, usually between 1 and 10 years.

Web server: A web server is a computer that stores websites and their related files for viewing on the internet.

Web hosting: Web hosting is the name given to the service of providing a web server to store your website on.

How it all fits together

A domain name works just like a postal address, but on the internet - it directs internet users to the particular web server your website is stored on. When you buy a domain you choose which web server you want to point your domain to by entering the "nameserver" settings through your domain registrar's control panel.

When someone types in your domain name their request is processed by the web server your domain name points to, the web server then displays the relevant website to the user.

To summarise:

Owning a website requires two things: 1. A domain name, 2. A web hosting service.

You don't have to buy your domain and web hosting from the same place - all you have to do is make sure you set the nameservers on your domain to point to your web hosting provider's web server.

At Olio, in addition to building websites we also offer reliable web hosting and domain management services for our clients. Get in touch to find out more.