What is a domain name?

Your domain name identifies your website. It is your website’s name. it is the address from where your customers can enter your website.

Should I have a domain name?

If you are setting up your own website, yes, should have one.

It isn’t that hard to establish your own domain name. You just have to buy a domain name from a reliable domain name registrar.

What’s a domain name registrar?

This is a company that facilitates the registration of domain names. This is where you ‘buy’ a domain name for your own website.

Is a domain name cheap?

Some hosting companies give domain names for free when you obtain a hosting plan from them. However, the ‘free’ domain name only lasts for a specific time and you have to renew it afterward, from which you already have to pay for this renewal.

What is hosting?

It’s merely the provision of software and hardware platform from where the customers can deploy their websites and/or web-based applications.

Are there different types of hosting from where I can choose from?

Yes, some of them are:

Shared Hosting

This is the most popular because it is the cheapest – it involves sharing of a single machine.

VPS ( Virtual Private Server )

In here, each customer has their own virtual machine that usually runs on an advanced storage.

Dedicated Server Hosting

This is often rare and expensive because you take complete control of your actual server.

Cloud Hosting

This is a type of hosting plan which lets you pay for what you actually use and runs on large computing power.

What is reseller hosting?

It is a wholesale hosting – you purchase a block of hosting resourcing and sell it to other companies that need hosting.

How do I secure my website?

  • You should use a strong password to all your hosting accounts, and don’t use the same password for all.
  • Enable two-factor authentication to your domain name registrar and hosting plan.
  • Back up your data.
  • Utilize HTTPS, and get an SSL Certificate.

What is HTTPS?

If you are using HTTPS, your communication with other websites is encrypted, and these encrypted messages are sent to the Public Key to see if these are authentic and trustworthy.

What is SSL?

SSL verifies the identity of the Public Key.

How do I acquire a security certificate?

You purchase from an SSL Certificate provider. Hosting companies are often affiliated with SSL certificate vendors, so if you get a plan from them, this is included as an account upgrade.

How will I backup my website?

Set up an automated backup for your database and your code. Hosting companies offer this kind of service, and you can purchase from them along with the hosting plan that you chose.