What's the difference between Website Hosting and Domain Hosting?

What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is your website’s ADDRESS on the internet. You can compare it to a “Physical Address” - you can only have one home at a specific address.

So when a user types your domain in their web browser or click on a link with your domain - they are sent to your website.

ShinePages does NOT offer Domain Hosting - You can purchase your Domain Name from ANY Domain Registrar such as Namecheap, GoDaddy, Domain.com, Google Domains/Workspace etc.

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is where your website technically resides on the internet. It’s like the HOUSE of your website, providing a place for all of your website / funnel / course / appointments / store / CRM / emails etc. images, files and data to stay.

A web hosting company like ShinePages charges to rent space on their servers. Website Hosting IS INCLUDED in all of our Plans, among the many other features as mentioned above. We also provide you with an SSL certificate to keep your websites and funnels secure.

When a visitor types the domain name into the browser, the browser fetches the specific data from the web host and this data all together displays your website.

How do these 2 different host types work together?

To connect these 2 - we use a “Directory” called Domain Name System (DNS).

The DNS translates your domain name into an IP address that points to your website host’s server (ShinePages).

You would simply follow the 2 simple steps to share the DNS records found on your website settings with the Domain Host you purchased your domain from. Please see this article: Connect a Domain

To sum it up: The Domain Name is like the ADDRESS of your house, while Web Hosting is the HOUSE where you store everything ie. Files and Data etc.

NOTE:

While other platforms may sometimes "bundle" website hosting and domain hosting together in one "package" or "plan" - they are indeed two separate and distinct things and typically can be separated (and paid for separately as well). This "bundling" can often be a cause of confusion where people don't know where they purchased their domain name, how much it costs, what the difference is between the two or how to access their domain's DNS records.

We have chosen NOT to offer "bundles" of web hosting and domain hosting together at this time.

PS.  - EMAIL HOSTING is another separate thing as well.  

You would purchase your business email address from YOUR Domain Registrar - ie: Namecheap, GoDaddy, Domain.com, Google Domains/Workspace etc.

Please see this article: Email 101 - How Emailing Works Within ShinePages