Domain vs. Website: What’s the Difference?

Domain vs. Website: What’s the Difference?

While domains and websites are closely connected, they’re two very different things. We’re going to explain the difference between the two and introduce you to the concept of website hosting.

Domains are a human-friendly version of a website’s IP address. Domains are purchased and often used for a website, an email account or forwarding. That being said, you can also purchase a domain and do absolutely nothing with it. No website, no email, nothing.

However, you can’t create an email address or a website without first purchasing the domain name. And what’s important to understand is that by purchasing a domain name, it doesn’t automatically create a website.

Suppose you decided to start your own business. You even have a great name and maybe spent money to copyright it. Naming your venture, even copyrighting it, doesn’t mean you have an actual business. It’s just one step towards building it.

In the same way, if you purchase a domain name and want to use it for a website, you must first build out the website and then connect it to the domain name.

In some cases, you’ll also need to find a website hosting company. Hosting companies house, serve and maintain the files for websites, making them visible on the web.

Think of a web hosting company like a shopping center with several individual stores. If you want your own store, lease up some space and set up shop.

Just like a shopping center, hosting companies enable you to lease space on their web servers
so you can store your site files and make it available on the internet.

Regardless of where you purchase your domain name, you can use it for your website with any hosting company.

So back to our shopping center example. Suppose you decided to lease space at a different shopping center and move your store there. You’ll still be able to use the same name for your store.

The same is true for your domain name. Once you purchase and register your domain name,
it’s yours for the duration of the registration and you can use it with any web hosting company.

GoDaddy is a domain registrar and a web hosting company with a website building application. So, at GoDaddy, you can register your domain, build a website and host it for the whole world to see. All from one place.

Remember, you can have a domain and not use it for a website, email or anything. But, you can’t have a website without having a domain first.

#GoDaddy #Domains #Website