Web hosting et domain are terms you've probably come across on the internet. So if you want to know what they are, how they differ, you have come to the right place.
Web hosting and domain name are two of the basics you need to create a website. Working together, they make websites appear on the internet. However, these two are very different despite working together.
In this article we will explain to you the real difference betweenWeb hosting and domain name, plus everything you need to know.
But before, if you have never installed WordPress discover How to Install a WordPress Blog in 7 Steps et How to search, install and activate a WordPress theme on your blog
Then back to why we are here.
1. What is web hosting?
At its simplest, web hosting is essentially like renting space on the Internet to place your website. You can purchase this space from suppliers of web hosting services, also known as web host. Once you have done this, other people will be able to use your website over the Internet.
Before create a website, it is first necessary to have some hosting space on the server. A server is basically a computer that is always running and connected to the Internet.
By purchasing a web hosting plan, you are renting space on a server to store your website. After that, people will actually be able to access your website using the Internet.
However, it's important to remember that not all hosting services are the same.
Types of web hosting
There are different types of web hosting to choose from depending on your needs. Things like the cost, storage space, bandwidth, etc… may also change depending on the type of accommodation. Therefore, it is important to understand what are the different types of web hosting.
- Shared hosting:
When it comes to hosting services, shared hosting is considered the cheapest and lower quality option. In shared hosting, your website will share server space with other websites. As a number of websites will share the resources of a single server, it is not suitable for websites with many visitors.
A budget option like this can be a good choice for small businesses as well as small websites in general.
- Virtual Private Server (VPS)
In a VPS, a single server is shared by multiple websites, but with one important difference. It uses special technology known as virtualization, which divides a server into several virtual servers.
As a result, each website has its own separate space in the server. This basically means that you will have more resources compared to shared hosting.
If you want something better than shared hosting, but don't want to rent an entire server, then VPS is for you.
- Dedicated hosting
With dedicated hosting, you will be able to have an entire server (or servers) for you. If you don't want to share a server with just any other website then this is the way to go.
Since your website won't have to share resources with any other website, it can be faster and handle more visitors. In addition to that, you will also have complete control over the entire server.
It is best for large websites with many visitors and is generally more expensive than the previous options.
- Managed hosting
In managed hosting, the web hosting company completely manages the server. You will have an entire server to yourself, without having to worry about things like administration, security, updates, etc. As a result, managed hosting offers a much simpler and more user-friendly experience.
If you're willing to sacrifice control for the sake of convenience, then managed hosting might be for you.
So these are the different types of web hosting that you can find on the internet. It's not exactly a complete list, but it should cover the most common.
2. What is a domain name?
A domain name is simply a name used to locate a website on the Internet. For example, you can enter "blogpascher.com" in the address bar of your web browser to visit our website. Here 'blogpascher.com' is the domain name of our website.
Likewise, when you enter "Www.google.com" on the address bar of your web browser, your browser will use this domain name to find out where the website is located and open the Google search engine for you.
It gets a bit more complex if you want to go into detail on how it works. When you enter a domain name on your browser (for example, www.google.com), it sends a request to a database known as Domain Name System (DNS). This database will then provide the browser with a IP adress special.
After that, the browser will use this IP address to go to the website hosting server. From there, he will have access to the various files necessary to display the website.
As you may have noticed, not all domain names seem to follow the same structure. For example, “www.google.com” and “www.hse.gov.uk” are two domain names, but you can see that they are different in structure. To better understand it, different types of domains are explained below.
Types of domains
First of all, it is important to note that there are different levels when it comes to domains. Some domains are ranked higher in the Domain Name System (DNS) while others are ranked low. The different types are shown below.
i. Top-level domain (TLD)
As the name suggests, these domains occupy the highest levels on the DNS. Each domain name requires a top level domain at the end.
In the domain name 'www.blogpascher.com'you can see that'comis the TLD because it is right at the end. Other examples of TLDs are easy to find, such as biz, edu, gov, etc ...
ii. Second level domain (SLD)
Second-level domains appear directly below the TLDs in the hierarchy. In a domain name, you can find SLDs just to the left of them.
To better understand it, let's take an example of "www.blogpascher.com" one more time. Here the SLD will be "blogpascherSince it is to the left of the TLD. In the case of a domain like "www.amazon.co.uk", The SLD would be"co».
iii. Third-level and lower-level domains
As you can guess, the third level domains fall directly under the SLDs in the hierarchy. These are rarer compared to the previous types of domains. You can find them to the left of the SLDs.
For example, in "www.amazon.co.uk", The third level domain would be"amazon". Additionally, the TLD and SLD would be "uk" and "co" respectively.
Following this model, there may be many other lower level domains.
3. Web Hosting vs Domain Name
When it comes to the difference between web hosting and domain name, it's actually quite easy to understand. These are two entirely different things that need to work together for a website to function properly.
On the one hand, web hosting is the location where your website is located. The domain name, however, is the address of that location.
Web hosting is basically storage that holds all of your website files. The domain name, on the other hand, does not store anything. All it does is point a browser to the web hosting server.
When it comes to hosting vs. domain, it's not possible to say that one is more important or better than the other. In fact, the two need to work together for a website to run.
How web hosting and domain names work together
The basic idea is that web hosting is storage for a website while the domain name is the storage address. If web hosting is a house that contains all the files for a website, then the domain name is the address of the house.
The files are required for a website to run as stored in the web hosting server. In order for someone to actually access this file, they need to know where this server is located on the Internet.
This is where the domain name comes in. If you have the domain name, you can direct your browser to the exact location of these files. And finally, you will be able to use the website.
4. Where to buy web hosting and domain name?
Best web hosting services
Choosing the right web hosting is one of the most important things you can do as a website owner. Before setting up a hosting account, you should consider important things like bandwidth, services, as well as cost. As a result, you need to be careful in choosing the best web hosting service.
Among the different web hosting providers, we recommend Bluehost because it provides high quality accommodation at an affordable price.
If you want to use the WordPress platform, even better as it offers one-click WordPress install functionality.
If you want to check out alternatives to Bluehost, check out the following major hosting companies:
Best domain name registrars
As with website hosting, there are a number of options for domain names as well. Registering domain names is not something to be taken lightly either.
When it comes to a high quality domain name registrar, you can't go wrong with NameCheap.
NameCheap provides domain names at a very affordable price, with domain.com available for just $ 8,88 / year. It is also backed by a bunch of useful features like personal data privacy and dedicated 24/7 customer support.
For alternatives to NameCheap, here are some of the notable options.
- Bluehost
- domain.com
- Godaddy
- Enom.com
- name.com
Also discover some additional premium WordPress plugins
You can use other plugins to display countdowns on your WordPress blog. In what follows, I propose some of them.
1. Progress Map
Progress Map is a WordPress Plugin designed for geolocation. The goal is to help users with websites about hotel listings, real estate ads, lists of restaurants, job offers, store announcements and more ... to organize their locations on Google Map and navigate easily through the map using a carousel.
In other words, with this plugin, your locations are going to be published both on Google Map (markers) and on a carousel. The carousel is connected to the map, which means that the item selected in the carousel will target its location on the map and vice versa.
Take a look at How to display the location of a member of your WP community on a Google Map
To add your locations, Progress Map provides a form space in the "Add New Item" page allowing you to easily add your location coordinates.
Download | Demo | Web hosting
2. Was this Helpful
Was This Helpful is a WordPress Plugin premium used to value the comments of your readers. It should be noted that if a positive comment motivates you to do better, a negative comment on the other hand helps you to find the shortcomings, and to improve your blog; making it more useful for other visitors.
This plugin is unique because it asks visitors to answer the question of why they don't find a post useful when they click the "NO" option. Likewise, it asks visitors what they like the most when they click on the "YES" option.
Discover How to use social networks to boost engagement on your blog
In addition, you can go to the page / article listing where you will see a Yes / No section, which allows you to quickly see the statistics, finally to have a complete overview on the quality of your articles and your pages.
Download | Demo | Web hosting
3. Marketing Automation
Ce WordPress Plugin premium provides a simple and flexible user interface, the purpose of which will be to help you easily create a powerful newsletter on your website. Its flexibility will allow you to manage a wide range of events, conditions and actions - so you can easily configure your email marketing strategy to send, track and profit from it.
Its main functionalities are: the possibility of applying conditional logic based on the reaction and on the behavior of the visitors, the tracking of the actions of the visitors of the website, perfect for all loyalty programs, excellent for marketing strategies that bet on the rewards, an intuitive dashboard, the segmentation of website visitors, the possibility of doing surveys, sms notifications and by email, pop-ups based on visitor behavior, banner ads based on visitor behavior and much more.
Download | Demo | Web hosting
Recommended Resources
Find out about other recommended resources to help you build and manage your website.
- What is the difference between a blog and a website?
- 10 WordPress plugins to manage a multi-site network
- 6 WordPress plugins to add Authorize.Net to your website
- 10 WordPress plugins to improve the visual of your website
Conclusion
Voila! So that was our article on web hosting, domain names, and the difference between them. If you own a website, or are just planning to be one, now you are in a position to put this information to good use.
Web hosting and domain names are quite different from each other and it is important to know the differences.
However, you will also be able to consult our resources, if you need more elements to carry out your projects of creation of Internet sites, by consulting our guide on the WordPress blog creation.
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