Domain hosting services are places that administer your Web address, sending people to your Web site when they type in the series of words or letters you select as a domain name. Not all domain hosting services are alike, so consider these important points to select the best domain hosting service for you:
What Are Domain Names and Hosting?
Domain names are the Web site names that you type in to get to sites. Popular domain names include CNN.com, ESPN.com and Weather.com. Physical Web site locations are actually a long series of numbers; domain names are easily remembered words or letters that point to your numerical address so people don't have to memorize the numbers.
Domain hosting services administer your domain. When you purchase a domain from a domain host, you must tell it where to forward people to get to your Web site. Domain hosts don't necessarily host sites, so you may have two different providers to host your website and host your domain.
Can Your Web Host Provide Domain Hosting?
The simplest solution is to find a Web host provider that also offers domains. You can administer both your domain and your Web site through the same provider, meaning one bill, one company to deal with and typically a much easier setup. If you host your domain through your Web host, the Web host typically sets up the forwarding for you and tells the domain where to point to locate your Web site.
Moving Can Be a Hassle
If you use a domain-hosting website but later decide you want to move it to your Web host, you might have to jump through a lot of hoops to do it. While you generally can move domains, most companies have very specific, unique requirements about when and how you can do it.
The domain host requirements may not be the same as your web host's requirements, so you must find out the requirements on both sides before you can move a domain. Once you establish a Web site, it's important to keep the same domain for branding and marketing reasons, so you'll want your domain for the life or your site. Keep this in mind when you're getting started, and look for a domain host or Web host that's been in business for a while and gets high ratings from current customers.
Domain Hosting Can Slow You Down
When speed is of the essence, using a separate domain host can cost you. Some domain hosting services take up to three to five days to point a domain name at your physical address. If you're trying to set up a Web site immediately, you might not be able to direct people to your domain for several days. Check with the domain hosting service to determine how long it takes for the domain to activate.
Check for Downtime
Some inexpensive domain hosting services occasionally experience downtime. In these cases, your Web site may be up and running, but your domain host may be down, meaning that people don't get forwarded. As far as users are concerned, your site doesn't exist.
Look for uptime when you're selecting a domain-hosting service. Nobody can achieve 100% uptime forever, so skip sites that make this claim. Uptime of 97% or more is generally considered good.
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