Domain Name Registration

http://www.hammock-registration.com

A domain name is your website address, hammock.net, for example, is my domain name.

You register a domain name through a Registrar.  www.hammock-registration.com for example.   It’s kind of like getting a toll-free 800 number from the phone company.  The 800 number rings to a phone, and is really just serves to direct calls to the right phone.  A domain name just serves to direct web traffic to your website which is hosted on a website hosting server.

Website Hosting

http://www.hammock-hosting.com

  • A website is composed of a bunch of files that reside on a hard drive.  This hard drive has special software that enables it to be found on the Internet. 
  • You need to rent space on this hard drive.
  • Website hosting companies rent this space to you.  

 The domain name points to all these files.  The hosting company provides a place to live for all your pages and images.  Website hosting accounts come with email.  Generally, you can have as many email addresses as you like.  You will also get a control panel in which you can do things like set up email accounts and check to see information about traffic your site is getting.  The best hosting control panel is cPanel.  It’s simple and does not burden you with endless, annoying sales pitches and upsells.  Simple is good.