A lot of people nowadays still do not know the difference between a domain name and web hosting. Some of them even think that they are two same things. However, they are not. They are two separate things.
To make a website you must own a domain name and web hosting. But what’s a domain name? What’s a web hosting? It’s important that you are crystal clear on their differences before you move on to create your own website.
Domain name is the address of your website that people type in the browser’s URL bar to visit your website.
Before you can setup a website, you will need a domain and to do this, you need to own a domain name by registering it with a domain registrar. Domain name is not something physical that you can touch or see. It is a string of characters that give your website an identity.
For example: Google.com and hsc-global.my.
Web hosting is the place where all the files of your website live. some examples are HTML files, documents, images, videos, etc..). All websites on the internet need web hosting.
When someone enters your domain name in a browser, the domain name is translated into the IP address of your web hosting company’s computer. This computer contains your website’s files, and it sends those files back to the users’ browsers. Some of the web hosting companies are InMotion Hosting and SiteGround.
Basically a domain name system is like an address book that is constantly updated. Behind each domain name, there is an address of the web hosting service storing the website’s files.
Without domain names, it will not be possible for people to find your website and without web hosting you cannot build a website.
