What is a Domain Name?
In simple terms, it’s your address on internet where people can find you.
Internet Protocol addresses are composed of a string of numbers (and sometimes numbers and letters). For most humans, it’s easier to remember words than numbers, so we have domain names which are composed of letters (and sometimes numbers) which usually form words.
When the domain name is typed into a web browser, the letter and/or number combinations are translated into an IP address which points to a computer/server where your website is stored (hosted).
As people visit your website and browse the various web pages hosted on the computer servers, data which makes up your website is transferred from your server to their server/device. If your website has lots of high resolution photos, then more data is needed to transfer the information. The faster the connection speed, the faster data can be transferred between devices.
If you’ve read this far, then you must REALLY be interested in a domain name and what it can do for you.
By “purchasing” a domain name, you are actually “renting” the domain name for a specified period of time, usually in increments of a year. If you really love it, you can secure the domain for up to 10 years at a time. Keep in mind, if you forget to renew the domain name before it expires, it goes into a redemption period which gives you a small window to reclaim the domain name. Once the redemption period expires, the domain name is up for grabs again and anyone can buy it.
I speak from personal experience. I forgot to update my payment and contact information for my domain and eventually lost: www.TofuAlan.com. Someone bought it and attempted to sell it back to me. It’s current asking price is: $2,595 to get it back. After 5 years of hemming and hawing, I decided to launch a new website using: www.TofuAlan.net instead.
So what do you do once you have visited www.BurritoProjectDomains.com and purchased your new domain name? Next you need to HOST your website with is connected to your domain name. If you have a huge corporation, you may opt to host your own domain on your own servers. What most people choose to do, is purchase web hosting, which is essentially shared computer space, to host their website. This shared hosting space allows for high quality hosting for a lower price.
When you search for your domain name, you will also have the opportunity to purchase your domain name, add hosting (which is highly recommended) and add an email account in the same transaction. Within minutes of your purchase, your domain name will be active and your hosting account will be ready to go.
Once you have your domain name & hosting account purchased, you can now upload your website, or build it from scratch, or modify a pre-made template, or have someone build it for you.
Read more about building your website here.
Domain Names – Hosting Accounts – Email Services – Building Your Website
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