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Like every other business owner, you need a great website designed by a professional web design company.
Before your web design becomes a reality, you need two things: a domain name and quality web hosting.
Though they do work together once web designers upload your site, it’s important to know the difference between domains and hosting. A mistake made when choosing either could negatively affect how well your site performs.
What Is A Domain Name?
A domain name is basically the URL address of your website. It’s the online address that when clicked, brings someone to your uploaded web design.
Every website has a unique domain name that must be registered with a domain registrar site. There is a yearly fee to keep the unique domain name of your choice for as long as you continue to pay for it.
No other owner may take the name from you nor have the exact same name.
As such, it’s important to get a domain name that is the same as or significantly related to your business.
When web designers start creating your site using a great domain name, it helps customers find and remember your company, which helps your business make sales or get clients.
What Is Web Hosting?
While every website requires a domain name that identifies it from all other domains out there, every domain requires hosting in order for a professional web design to be uploaded for use.
Web hosting is essentially the parking space on a host company’s internet server where your site resides.
You must also pay a monthly fee to the hosting service for the space to host your web design and some other features such as bandwidth, storage space, and email that usually come with a hosting account.
Free Hosting Sites and Your Domain
Some hosting sites provide two levels of service: free hosting with free domains and regular paid hosting.
As much as free space for your site might seem like a good idea, this is something that all web designers avoid for a few very important reasons. When you upload your site to a free host, you cannot use your own domain.
Your main domain will always be www.hostingsite.com/yourcompanyname or something similar.
Since your business is not the main domain, this can greatly affect things like SEO, site optimization, brand authority, and your customers’ ability to find and remember your website.
Most free hosts put advertising on websites and reap those benefits. You may want to put your own advertising on your site or like most businesses, none at all.
The only way you can have control over this and use your actual web domain is with a paid account. In other words, to ensure you have a functional professional web design, avoid falling for the free hosting trick. Hosting is not that expensive.
The Take Away
Whether you’re just starting a business and need a brand new web design or are working with web designers to improve your current one, you need both a unique domain and hosting with a good web hosting company.
Combined, your domain and hosting account comprise the backbone of your online presence and the online home for both your professional web design and your business!
