The Blog Single

14 May

Domain & Hosting

Domain name and web hosting, what’s the difference?

When setting up your first website it’s not uncommon to get confused between domain name registration and web hosting.

Your domain name is the name of your site or your url (www.mynewcompany.com) and can be purchased by going to a domain name registrar. Domain names usually range from about $10 to $50/year depending on the extension. (.ca are more expensive than .com.)

In order for your website to appear on the Internet, the files need to be uploaded to a server. These can be “hosted” at a hosting company. Hosting is usually billed monthly or annually at a rate of $10 to $50/month depending on how the type of server you need and how much space and bandwidth you are using.

Domain names can be purchased anywhere, we provide several windows and Linux hosting packs with us.

All of these hosting companies provide domain name registration as well as hosting making it very convenient.

You can however, purchase a domain name and then host it somewhere else.

Once you’ve purchased a domain name, you will be provided with login details to access your account. It’s important to keep this info on hand and pass it on to your web developer.

If you’ve purchased a domain name at one company and decide to host it somewhere else, then you’ll need to login to your domain registrar and modify the dns. This dns change just tells your domain registrar that the url you are using is now being hosted by someone else.

Before modifying the dns, be mindful of your email addresses. If you’ve set up email addresses with your domain registrar, you will need to set these up again with your hosting provider. Before making any changes, it’s best to contact your web developer or IT department and make sure that any changes won’t incur email loss.

This whole domain name registration and hosting may seem daunting but it’s very simple once you’ve done it once or twice. If you’re setting up a brand new site, choosing one of the hosting companies to purchase both domain name and hosting will make it simpler. If you’ve already purchased the domain name somewhere else, just make sure that you keep your login details to both domain registrar and hosting provider and pass this info to your web developer.

About the Author

Comments

  • http://canadianorderpharmacy.com/ - May 14, 2015

    Hi! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any problems with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing a few months of hard work due to no backup. Do you have any methods to protect against hackers?

    Reply
    • admin - May 14, 2015

      You can use these steps to avoid any trojan infection on your domain.
      Keep WordPress up-to-date
      Keeping Plugin & Themes Updated
      Use Captcha whenever possible
      Installing plugins and using themes that are listed in the official WordPress directories.
      Change your Login/Password (do not use default username admin for your wp-admin dashboard and use strong passwords)
      Limit access to wp-contents directory
      Change Table Prefix
      Change the Default “admin” username
      Use Strong Passwords
      Enable the Web Application Firewall (WAF)
      Disable File Editing
      Backup, make sure to take regular backup of your entire website contents and Database.
      Install any of the below Security Plugin:
      Security Plugin Like:
      Wordfence
      iThemes Security
      Sucuri
      Better WP Security
      BulletProof Security
      All In One WP Security & Firewall

      Reply

Leave a Comment