Buy a domain

A domain name is the address used by your audience to find your website.

To better understand what a domain is, think of the internet as a large map of building addresses. If you want anyone to visit or find where you live, you need an address. Just as if you want someone to visit your website, you need a website address. This is your domain name.

You’ve likely heard a number of terms related to domains including domain name, uniform resource locator (URL), web address. You can use these all of these terms interchangeably because they all mean the same thing.

Your website also has an IP address made up of a string of numbers (similar to 104.218.15.162). Instead of requiring your visitors to remember that confusing string of numbers to visit you, your visitors can instead just type in your domain name. This is thanks to what is know as the domain name system (DNS).

DNS is simply a group of computers that translates your domain name into your numerical IP address. After all, computers communicate via numbers and not words. How does DNS work? If you want to visit hosting.com, all you need to do is remember the domain name “hosting.com”. You do not need to know the related IP address made up of the string of numbers. When you type in hosting.com into your browser, your request is sent to DNS. DNS looks up the IP address for hosting.com and directs you to our website.

DNS is an abbreviation for domain name system. The domain name system is like the phone book for the internet.

DNS is essentially a database of IP addresses. Each IP address contains a series of numbers that allow computers to communicate with each other. A website is identified on a server by its IP address. Instead of your visitors having to remember an IP address to type into their browser to access your site, they can instead just use your more memorable domain name. When your domain is entered into the browser, DNS translates it into an IP address because that is what computers understand. Your computer is able to connect to your domain hosting and show your website on the web browser once the IP address is found.

A domain name registration is the simple process of reserving your website’s name for a specified period of time. The two parties involved with a domain registration are generally the user who is registering the domain and the domain registrar. The domain registrant is the user who actually registers the domain name (you) and the domain registrar is the company who helps that user with their domain registration (hosting.com).

There are organizations, called registries, that manage each TLD option. When you are ready to register domain names, you would first visit hosting.com. We in turn check with the registry, who manages the TLD of the domain you are interested in registering, to see if it the domain is available. If the domain for the TLD you want discovers that it is in fact available, the registry adds it to their registry and gives you access to it. If the domain for that TLD is unavailable because it has already been registered by another user, you will be shown during the domain registration process that the domain in fact is unavailable at that time.

You may be wondering who is in charge of all of these registration processes? Most countries manage a Network Information Center (NIC). An NIC is the main database that has all of the information regarding what domain names have been registered and the IP addresses associated with each of those domains. The non-profit organization, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), is in charge of creating and managing the procedures for internet namespaces.

Yes, you need web hosting to have a website.

You can have a domain name. You can have domain hosting (AKA web hosting). But without the two together, you’re not going to be able to have a website. Domain names and domain hosting are attached at the hip.

When you register a domain name, you are acquiring exclusive access for your visitors to use that web address to find you online. But if you want to actually put up a website at that address, you need domain hosting. Domain hosting is the service used to store all of the files that make up your website.

Think of domain names and domain hosting as a physical storefront. A domain name is like renting an address for a plot of land. It’s your plot of land for as long as you keep paying your rent. At the end of the day though, it’s still just a plot of land. You still need walls, windows, doors and a roof for your store. These are the files, databases, images and videos that your website consists of. This is your domain hosting. Without domain hosting, you can’t have a website.

Looking to purchase domain hosting in addition to buying domain names? We’ll be more than happy to help you with that as well. Your website will be hosted on our high performance SwiftServer platform. Best of all, we offer completely scalable hosting solutions that can support your site as it grows. There’s no need to switch web hosting providers because we’ll have a solution that fits your needs. Choose from Shared, WordPress, Reseller, VPSand Dedicated Server domain hosting solutions. Give your website a speed boost with our Turbo Servers. They load pages up to 20X FASTER compared to competing domain registration and domain hosting solutions!

When you register domain names from hosting.com, you get access to our user-friendly My hosting.com control panel. You can manage your domains and all of the features included with your hosting.com domain registration in this control panel. Just some of the domain features you’ll be able to manage include customizing your nameservers, transfer in a new domain, DNS and much more!

You may not think there are many features and benefits included when you register a domain name. Maybe you just have never registered a domain with hosting.com. Let's change that! Here is a list of just some of the benefits included with your hosting.com domain name!

• Setup Domain Auto-Renewal -- Protects your domain from going back to the general domain pool if you ever miss a domain renewal email or invoice.
• Manage Nameservers -- Set your nameservers or use custom nameservers for branding purposes. Custom nameservers are especially popular if you are reselling our services.
• Add Domain Theft Protection -- Locks your domain to prevent it from being transferred away without your express permission. 
• Update Contact Information-- Edit the contact information associated with your domain name for the WHOIS records. It's important to keep this updated so you can retain control of your domain. You can specify separate registrant and admin contact information
• Setup Email Forwarding -- Forward your emails to a different email address, allowing you to monitor your emails all within a single account.
• Manage DNS Records--  Use this section add and edit the A, MX, CNAME, SPF records and more for your domain.
• Manage All Domains -- Easily renew your current domain, register a new domain or transfer a new domain to hosting.com.

Yes you can! At hosting.com, we make domain transfers extremely easily! It also makes your life easier when you have your web hosting and domains all at hosting.com. To ensure a smooth domain transfer, make sure you have the following information:

• Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) code. This code validates the fact that you have the authority to transfer the domain name. You can obtain this code from your existing domain registrar by request if you do not know it.
• Your domain must be unlocked -- A locked domain indicates that it cannot be changed or transferred. Make sure that you contact your current domain registrar if you need assistance unlocking the domain.
• Current domain contact information -- Your domain names have both a technical contact and an administrative contact. This information can be the same person. Regardless, these contacts are emailed once the domain request begins. You will want to make sure once of those contacts is you.

Follow these steps to complete your domain transfer to hosting.com:

1. Visit our Domain Transfer Page.
2. Type the domain you want to transfer into the search box and click the Search button.
3. Add your EPP code within the Authorization Code text field. Click Add to Cart.
4. Confirm the information on the Domain Configuration page and click continue.
5. Review your domain transfer information and click the "Checkout" button.
6. Complete the Personal Information and Payment fields. Click the Complete Order button.

If you have done all of your research and settled on the domain name that you would like to use, then you're ready to get started! Follow our instructions below to search for your domain name.

1. Scroll up to the top of this page to our domain name search box.
2. Type the domain name that you're interested in registering into the text field located below "Register A Domain". When typing your domain into the search box, make sure to include the entire domain name. For example, if you wanted to register "hosting.com", you'll want to include the dot (.) and the TLD (com) at the end. Click the search button.
3. You will be directed to a page that will show you if your domain is available. If it is available, you can add the domain name to the shopping cart to complete your purchase.  
4. If your domain is unavailable, don't worry! We'll show you a number of alternative domain name options. Add these domain options to the shopping to register them.

Whether you’re registering a new domain name or already have one, you’re going to need Web Hosting if you want a website. With hosting.com, you can both register a domain and host your website. We aim to make your life easier and simplify your services by offering both!

Speaking of easy solutions, that’s exactly the type of web hosting service you’ll get at hosting.com! That’s because your account features the award-winningcPanel control panel. Manage your websites, files, databases, email and more all within its user-friendly graphical interface. Whether you’ve never run a website before or are an expert, you’ll love cPanel!

At hosting.com, we want you to succeed, evident by the motto “Our Speed, Your Success”. Your website speed has a direct impact on your success. A mere 1-second delay has a negative impact on your bounce rate, conversion rate, visitor satisfaction and even your SEO rankings. Your choice of web host plays a large part in how fast your site loads. That’s why we focus on offering high speed hosting solutions. Your sites each come hosted on our SwiftServer platform, tuned for performance! You can even host on our Turbo Servers featuring up to 20X FASTER page loads compared to competing domain registrars and web hosts!

TLD is an abbreviation for top level domain. A TLD is the extension or portion of a domain name that follows the dot(or period). You are likely most familiar with TLDs like .com, .net, .biz, .info and .org. These TLDs are designed to signify something relevant to the domain. For example, the .com TLD stands for “commercial” while .net stands for “network”.

There is also an option called a ccTLD, or a country code top-level domain. A ccTLD is designed to signify sites located in or associated with certain countries or territories. However, most of the ccTLD options don’t actually have restrictions regarding who can register a domain name. In fact, many ccTLDs are commonly misinterpreted as TLDs. For example, while .tv is commonly registered by television and media related websites, .tv is actually the ccTLD designated for the country of Tuvalu.

There are also second level domain options too, particularly popular with ccTLDs. For example, the United Kingdom has a number of second level domains ranging from ‘.co.uk’ (designed for United Kingdom based businesses) to ‘.net.uk’ (designed for UK-based internet providers).

Domain hacks are also a popular use of both TLDs and ccTLDs. A domain hack involves creating a full word or phrase when combining the domain name with the TLD to create something your audience will easily remember. A popular example is using the .me ccTLD for Montenegro, and combining it with “aweso” to create the domain aweso.me.