Websites, domains, DNS, hosting, FTP. If you’re just getting introduced to the wonderful world of websites, it can all be very confusing. In this blog, we’ll talk about the three basic components of a functioning website and what they do; domains, hosting, and your website files.
You’ll find that nowadays there is a plethora of companies that offer these things in a package wrapped up together to make it a little easier for the user. If you’ve ever worked with website builders like Wix and Square Space, you’ve probably used all these components without realizing it. As you start to level-up and outgrow your first make-it-yourself website, you’ll start to realize that there is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes that makes everything work together.
Your Domain
Your domain is the unique name that you buy from domain registrars like Godaddy.com, Domain.com, and Namecheap.com For example bigredjelly.com is our domain. This name is an easy-to-remember reference for where your website “lives”. Domain names usually end with .com, .org, .net, etc. These ending are called Top Level Domains. Each has its advantages, with .com being the most popular and the most sought after. Your domain is NOT where your website exists. It’s only a name for people to find your website more easily. To find domains for sale try looking it up on Godaddy.com or Domain.com. A domain name usually costs around $15/year.
Your Website
When people refer to your website, they are usually referring to what they see when they type your domain into their web browser. All the pages, images, and text content are the visual representation of a bunch of code. This code isn’t visible to the front-end user, what a visitor sees is what the code is telling the web-browser to display. When you pay to have someone build your website for you, what they are doing is using software to create the correct code to match your brand and display exactly what you want. This code exists as actual files, think word documents or images stored on your computer.
Now you’ve bought your domain name and had your website build. Now all you do is just connect the two and voila, right? Wrong. Remember, your website is exists as files and your domain is just a reference for people to find you easier. That’s where hosting comes into play.
Your Hosting
Hosting is the term given to a provider who gives you an actual location where your website files “live”. Essentially what you’re doing is paying to use the space on someone’s server, it’s like paying digital rent for your website files. This is something that is often looked over when people are considering building a website. Now, when it comes to hosting, you get what you pay for, usually. You can find a cheap host, and you’ll get bare-bones hosting. If you’re willing to pay a little more, you can find hosting that is faster, offers automatic updates and backups, monitors your uptime, and includes other services.
Now you have all the pieces for the website site. You have something to name your website, you have the files, and you have the storage location. NOW you can connect them all and you’re good to go.
Big Red Jelly can help you with your website dreams. We specialize in custom-designed websites and offer different hosting packages. Feel free to reach out and see if Big Red Jelly is right for you. To see our hosting packages, visit bigredjelly.com/hosting
