In my attempt to give you a better understanding of how a website works, I am going to explain what a domain name and what a host is. If you don’t know this already and you enjoy the web, then this is something you should learn about. This is not a technical explanation.

A domain name is what your browser points to. While on this website, the domain name is “www.interstateproductions.com”. There are also .net, .info, .org, .tv, etc. This can be registered with many companies online. It doesn’t really matter who you register your domain with, just as long as it points to the correct place. A domain costs about $10-12 a year.

The domain name is registered to a person or a company and then is “pointed” to files on a server. The files contain html, which your browser decodes into what you are viewing right now. These files need someplace to be stored, this is where the host comes in.

A host is basically a server in which files are stored. This server is connected to the internet permanently. These files have a permanent spot in a folder on this server. When you get a domain, you will tell it to “point” to this folder on the server. This means that an unlimited number of domains can point to this same spot.

This host can be a free one, like http://sites.google.com/. This can also be one you made from scratch, or used a set of online building tools.

All hosts are basically the same. They all do the exact same things, some with different limitations. Some will limit the amount of email accounts & attachment size, others will limit the amount of files transferred for the month. Almost all of them have 24/7 tech support, some have better online web tools than others. On average, they cost $15 a month.

I hope this helps, post a comment if you have any questions.