WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A WEBSITE AND A DOMAIN?
Once you are ready to create a website for your business, it can be difficult to find yourself in all this internet jargon. You will surely have lots of questions to know where to start. What is a web server? A URL? What is the difference between a website and a domain? How does a site exist online and where does it "live"?
Realizing the basic configuration of a website is so simple that you can have your site online in a few hours. To get started, you need three things:
- A domain name for your site
- A platform to build and manage your website
- A place to host your website
Let's look at some key terms to understand how a website works.
What is a website?
A website is a set of related pages, linked together through a domain name. A website usually has a navigation bar that lists other web pages. Each page can serve a different purpose and present unique text and multimedia elements.
To display correctly in a web browser, sites must follow standard coding and structure guidelines.
There are, however, many popular website building tools for beginners
With these tools, you can customize your site without any design skills; the platform generates the code automatically.
What is a domain name?
A domain name is an address that identifies the unique online location of your website. So to speak, the domain name indicates the path to your site. When you type this name in the address bar, the browser is able to find the location where your site is hosted. A domain name is made up of words after "www." A multi-page site has a subdomain for each page. For example :
- Main domain of the site : digitalmediatrend.com
- Sub-domain of the blog : digitalmediatrend.com/blog
- Subdomain of a blog post : fitnesspourtous.fr/blog/2017/5/15/success-to-trainer-in-winter
Be aware that a registered domain name may exist in the absence of a website. In fact, some speculators buy thousands of unused domain names in the hope of reselling them at a higher price.
A site is online only if the domain name refers to the website and the host. It is also possible to have multiple domains returned to a single website.
You can use your creativity and choose any domain name you want, as long as it is not taken. Find your domain name by searching for names available from a domain name registrar such as GoDaddy or Namecheap .
You must pay an annual fee and renew your registration to own a domain name.
If your domain expires and someone else buys it, you can submit an offer to try to reclaim it. Be aware, however, that most vendors will charge you more than your annual fees, knowing that this area is coveted.
What is a URL?
We have seen that a website can have more than one page under the same domain. Each page needs a specific address to identify its location within the site. This is also true even when a site consists of a single page. A URL (Universal Resource Locator) is the complete address of a web page.
What is a host?
At first, a website does not look very complicated. Basically, however, it consists of data and file directories. A host stores and processes all these files on computers called "web servers".
Many website building platforms sell domains and hosting, which allows beginners to create a site easily and quickly. You can also find your own hosting service provider. This is called self-hosting.
WordPress.com and WordPress.org are the perfect example. WordPress.com is a blog platform that provides site templates and a hosting service. WordPress.org is a site development software that can be downloaded for free.
However, you must pay a separate host to put your completed site online. Here are some examples of known hosting platforms:
- Bluehost
- HostGator
- GoDaddy
- InMotion Hosting
The choice of your host determines the cost, speed and security of your site. Choose a reliable web host with backup servers where service interruptions are limited. You can not allow exposing your corporate website to untimely failures that would scare customers away.
You will also have to choose between shared hosting and dedicated hosting.
With shared hosting, the provider hosts multiple sites on the same server. As a result, each site has limited bandwidth and owners who exceed the limit must pay a fee. In limited hosting, your site is the only one on the server. Dedicated servers are better for large sites that receive a large volume of traffic.
Many hosts offer monthly or annual subscriptions, the latter option often receiving a discount. Others only offer annual subscriptions, which are difficult to pay in advance if the budget is tight.
Publish your finished site
Now that you have mastered the basics, let's get to the website. When you surf the internet, web browsers send file requests between special servers called Domain Name Systems (DNS).
While we humans are easier to read words, computers communicate with numbers. DNS servers translate domains into numeric identifiers, or IP addresses. This complex exchange helps servers validate sites and URLs and is done in seconds.
DNS servers have a unique IP address. That's why it's important for your domain name to point to the right DNS servers to publish your site. In simple terms, this is a way to tell other servers where your site is. You can use the same domain name if you transfer your site to another hosting platform.
Your hosting platform may be able to take care of this last step if your provider also hosts your domain name . If you use two different providers, the host of your website will tell you which IP addresses to target.
Adapt your site to your needs
The best thing about creating a website is that the possibilities for improvement are endless. Showing a clean and functional website is essential to developing your brand. But it's also about staying on the lookout for new ways to improve the user experience as your business grows. The Internet is a space of great flexibility: you do not have to stick to your initial site.
Need help setting up your business site? View our offer of custom website packages . We will take care of everything!
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