Domain Name
A Domain name is the unique name you have chosen for your Web Site. It will be owned by you only when it‘s registered with The Internet Consortium for Assigned Names and Numbers. ICANN is the organization placed in charge of overseeing the Internet by the US Department of Commerce.
Your domain address will be listed in a central database maintained by the domain registration authority. In order to retain this domain name you will pay a small fee each year. Approximately $25.00 per year and it becomes your address on the Internet where people can find your business online.
Domain names have two parts: the label and the extension, for example catfishwebcreations is the label and .com is the extension. www.catfishwebcreations.com has been registered by me. There are over 20 domain name extensions to choose from with the most popular being .COM, .CA and .NET. These three are typically used by for-profit companies, while .ORG is often used by non-profit organizations.
Web Hosting
Your web site host is the physical location that houses your web site. It's where all the content that is associated with your Web site resides. Basically it’s an online storage service for information and images, or any content accessible through the Web. Your Web hosting provider will maintain the computer, called a server and manage the technology that makes your Web site visible on the World Wide Web 24/7. Your Web host can also provide you with e-mail aliases linked to your domain name such as Tracy@catfishwebcreations.com
There are lots of Web hosting companies available to choose from. Some more reliable than others. I can recommend a couple that I am happy with from experience but ultimately it should be the responsibility of the client to set this up. I can help with this if you prefer. The annual cost varies. I have to pay these costs as well for my own site. When you think about it, it is very cost efficient. A small ad in the classifieds would cost me almost $200.00 to run only 4 weeks!
