Registering a domain name/hosting package/separated
After you have finished and tested your website, you will now need to buy a hosting deal and a domain name.
Host: the host is the company that will host your website online, meaning you will use their space to put your website online. There are different kinds of hosting such as Dedicated Hosting (you get a server for you only, which gives you better bandwidth but costs more) or Shared Hosting ( you get space on a server where other people also have space on it, it will cost less but the bandwidth will be limited).
Domain name: The domain is the URL address of your website. Let's take a website for example google videos:
www.video.blablabla.com. The italic part is called "domain name". The "video" is a subdomain. If you are used to FTP, it is a folder inside the website's FTP.
You can choose between two options:
- Buy a hosting deal and a domain name separately
- Buy a package deal
Whatever is your choice, you will need to look for the best price and also know how much space you will need. Are you planning to host Videos, images or MP3? Go for more space and Bandwidth. Are you planing on just making a small website? Go for less space and less bandwidth.
Connecting a domain name and a host:
If you bought a host and a domain name separately, you'll either have to enter the address of your website to redirect it or to enter the DNS address. To enter the DNS address, ask your hosting company for the address if you don't have it already and enter it in your domain name panel under "DNS". You sould have two addresses to enter.
To see if it worked, enter your domain name in the URL and see if it goes to your website.