No, a domain is not a website

If I had a dollar for every time I have described that I work with domain names and the immediate response was ”Oh! websites!” – I would have an overflowing piggy bank by now.

Between domains, hosting, and web pages, it’s certainly easy to get confused if you are not familar with these concepts. But don’t worry, it’s not as complicated as it sounds.

Let’s start with the basics. A website is a collection of web pages, like the different sections of a book. Each web page is basically a text file your browser loads and displays. When you type in a web address or click a link, your browser asks a computer to call a server to retrieve that page. The server sends it back, and your browser shows it to you.

A website is just a bunch of web pages strung together. They’re stored on a web host, which is a company that keeps your site’s files on their servers so people can visit them anytime.

When you visit a url like https://domain.com/domain.html, here’s what each part means:

• https:// — The specific protocol that tells your browser how to access the site.
• domain.com — The domain name.
• domain.html — The specific page or file you’re visiting.

So, in this case, domain.com is the domain.

Without domain names, you’d have to remember a string of numbers called an IP address (something like 192.167.1.140). Domains replace that string of numbers and make the internet human-friendly by letting you remember and type in letters instead of numbers.

To own a domain, you need to register it through a company that is a domain registrar. It usually costs a small yearly fee, and you’ll need to renew it to keep it active. (In case the domain name is already registered, you are going to have to buy it from the current owner. This is what domain name brokers and domain name marketplaces are for.)

Here’s what it may look like when you’re building your first website:

1. You come up with an idea.
2. You choose a domain name (like bananarama.com) and register it or try to buy it from the current owner using a brokerage service.
3. When you have the domain you can sign up for web hosting to store your website’s files.
4. You connect your domain to your web host by setting up something called name servers. This links your domain name to the hosting server’s IP address.

Basically, your domain is your website’s address — what people type to find you online.

Your website on the other hand is your house — the actual pages, pictures, and content that live at that address.

They’re two different things, but they need each other to work. Without a domain, no one can find your site. Without a website, there’s nothing to visit!

Websites and domains are important in different ways. If you have a clunky or malfunctioning website, your customers will have a hard time using your services. If you have a difficult, overly generic or unmemorable domain name, customers will have a hard time finding you, remembering you and distinguishing your name from others.

Both things are essential, and require work to be set up in a way that optimizes conversion and retention.

The great thing about the work required to acquire the domain name is that you only have to do it once, while a website is always more or less a work in progress.

If you need to acquire a domain name that is already taken – Contact us and we’ll try to get it for you!