So lets begin, there is not fancy introduction to set the scene or gently introduce you to the principals of domain names and hosting. This guide will just through it at you straight. Without the sugar coating some guides give you. 

Lets begin with differentiating the two; a domain name is the address to your website. The web hosting is where you website is stored. Yes your website is stored on a server, normally located in a datacentre – this ensures your site is online for everyone to see twenty four seven, three hundred and sixty five days a year.

When you look at the domain names there are two main parts – the domain name and the TLD (Top level domain) – lets look at Google for an example – google.com is their domain name it is made of the two parts name. In there case, their domain name is google and the TLD is .com (they have however implemented there domain name using other TLD’s like; co.uk and .net etc.)

There are a whole range of TLD’s available, from industry and country specific – ranging from .com, .in, .co.uk, .aero, .net  the list is huge.

You can purchase domain names for time based periods, normally at least one year, on in the case of .co.uk you must register the domain name for at least two years. You can purchase (register) a domain name with a registrar, one of the most well-known and popular registrars is a U.S company called GoDaddy.

Now the basics of a domain name have been explained we can talk about the basics of web hosting – the space where you site is going to be stored.

Websites are stored on a webserver, there are different types and levels of server, for example – shared hosting where you site sites with possibly hundreds of others on a shared server, you have no control over things like the operating system and security setup.

The next level of hosting is reseller hosting, this is where you can control multiple share accounts under one master account – this is more aimed at people wanting to make money from selling shared accounts. 

After reseller hosting the next level would be virtual dedicated servers (V.P.S) this is where a server is split into smaller “slices”, on these “slices” each owner can create there own separate server. You have control over the operating system, security, and control panel setups – one downside to this type of server is you are sharing resources (RAM and CPU) with other “slice” owners.

The next level of hosting is dedicated servers – with a dedicated server you have your own piece of hardware located in a datacentre – similar to a V.P.S you have full control over things like the operating system and system setup, however unlike a V.P.S you are the only owner of the server, so you can utilise its full hardware benefits.

Now you are wondering what a datacentre is? Well a data centre is a large warehouse full of servers; data centres are connected on major networks to the backbone of the Internet, providing contestant speeds of around 150 Megabits per second to each server. Data centres have fully resilient power supplies, thanks to batteries and large generators. Data centre temperatures are constantly kept cool to an optimal temperature for server performance. Of course if you own a server, you located it in a datacentre for a fee – but the speed benefits far out weigh the cost. Under no circumstances should you consider creating a server out of an old machine at home to run business critical websites on, save the hassle and just get high quality shared hosting from a well known provider.

If you are looking for a hosting provider, then you should look at Simplex Webs (https://www.simplexwebs.com/)

Once you have some web space on a server, and you have purchased a domain name, you need to link the two together. To do this you will login to the domain registrar where you registered your domain name and setup the domains name servers to point to your hosting provider. 

What are name servers? The name servers are like telephone switchboards, when someone types in your domain name to visit your site, the name servers tell the computer what server your site is stored on and then connects them to this server.

This sums up this simple guide.