Simple explanations for beginners
Web hosting, domain name and website design are three concepts that are very related. Web developers talk about these terms on a daily basis. These new words can be a little confusing especially when you are new to website design and maintenance. This article focuses on what each term means and how it relates to you. Airodigital prides itself in its customer-focused website maintenance services.
Table of contents
- What is web design and development
- What is web hosting and how does it work
- What does a domain name mean
We want our customers to be part of the process and understand what are the main features that compose a successful website. We have written this article to help you understand a little better.
Website Design
Website design is the look of your website. It is what you see and what you interact with when you visit a website. You can be as creative as you want when you are designing your website. Just keep in mind this is what everyone will see, make it count!
Web Hosting
Before we can explain what a web hosting business does, it helps to know what a server is. A server is a very specialized computer. Its main function is to store website information (think of a big cabinet with a detailed file on thousands of websites). Servers are also in charge of running specific software that will request your website when your website domain is searched for. Web hosting is a service that provides individuals or companies with said storage space within a server. They own the servers and thanks to these servers, we are able to view websites on the World Wide Web.
Domain Name
Your domain name is the name of your website. More specifically, it is your website address in the World Wide Web. Example: www.airodigital.com
It is unique. When you search for the domain name of your website using a web browser, the web browser requests for this specific address. Then, a server will respond by displaying the result it has stored for the address. This process is far more elaborate, but for the purposes of this article we try to simplify it as much as possible. .
A common analogy can help you understand how these three terms are related. You can think of website design as your physical house. You can decorate it as you please and you have control of how you want it to look like. Your website domain is your physical address. It is where your house is located and it is unique to your house. Your website hosting is the physical plot of land where your address and house are actually located.
Like restyling or remodeling your home, you can change the design and style of your website. You can make the website more modern or use more traditional layouts. If you want to change the name of your website, you would change its address. It would be similar to your street name and house number changing. Your house is the same, but you need to change the address name you would plug into a GPS.
Finally, if you decide to move to a different geographical place (think of a different neighborhood or state), then it would be like changing your web hosting.
Most of these changes usually take a few hours or days, depending on what’s being done. If you have questions about any of these elements discussed in this article, feel free to give us a call at (866) 603-5290 and it will be our pleasure to help you out. Here at Airodigital, we provide a full range of services from website design, domain name change and web hosting under our routine website maintenance package. We take care of all your website optimization needs for our small business clients. We want to ensure you have a successful website.
