To put it simply, there are three components that make up your website:
- Domain Name
- Web-Hosting Servers
- Site Files
Today we’re going to discuss what the difference between a domain name hosting server is; it seems like people use these terms interchangeably without really knowing what each component is or does for your site.
Let’s start with your domain name; let’s compare your website’s domain name, to entries in a phonebook. Much like phones, computers use numbers to communicate, we call these numbers IP addresses. Phonebooks tell people searching for businesses what the entries are; your website’s domain name does the same thing, it tells people that a domain name is hosted on the server.
Without a nice clean domain name, you would have your potential clients typing in numbers like: 123.457.875.142/
The Hosting Servers are where all of your website’s files are located. When you think of hosting, compare it to the empty space you have rented out for your business. It is an empty space for your files, it does not include a site to sell products.
Without hosting you really don’t have a site at all because your files won’t have a place to reside. Think about it this way, without hosting, you domain name would be like a disconnected phone; no files means no website!
The site files are what your potential customers actually see when they land on your page, i.e. products and services. The web hosting will then read these files, and show your server exactly how to lay them out on the website.
Quick recap, without a domain name, there is no way people can find your site, and without hosting, there is no place for your site files, therefore your webpage will be empty.
For more information on domain names verses hosting, please give Boston Web Marketing a call at 857.526.0096.