One of the most asked questions is why should you separate your web hosting and domain name?
Before we address that question, perhaps it is best to provide a little terminology definitions in case you are new to the domain realm.
Domain Name:
Domain names are the names of the website that you type in to visit the website of your choice. Some use the prefix of www and others are only the name wpgoby.com
Web Hosting:
Web hosting is the computer that your website is setup on. Just like your pc at home, websites are setup on larger servers with space specifically allocated for your website to be displayed to the public. Web hosting can come in many forms; shared hosting, cloud hosting, dedicated hosting and managed WordPress hosting.
You can see our list of recommended hosts here
Most people would cite cost as a main reason for keeping everything under one roof. This is definitely justified if your website is a personal hobby or blog. However, if your site is an income generating website the smarter strategy would be to follow industry standards to ensure that downtime is kept to a minimum. One part is to include the separation of your domain and web hosting for the following reasons;
Domain locked with current web host
Many hosting companies offer a free domain if you sign up for web hosting with them. If you have a website as a side hobby this makes perfect sense as it helps to keep your running costs down. The issue arises when you want to move host for whatever reason. You stand the chance of the hosting company holding onto your domain which would force you to have to change to a new one.
Another reason for domains being locked are if you want to change host less than 60 days after signing up. If you registered your domain independently, you would simply need to point the domain to the new hosting servers.
Larger selection of TLD options to select from
Registering your domain independently on a domain registrar rather than your web host allows for the option of a larger selection of top level domains to select from.
Most hosting companies have a very limited selection of TLDs to use which makes things difficult if you are looking to get a unique or local option.
For those just starting out, TLD’s are top level domains. Top level domains are the part that comes at the end of the domain name. For example, in the domain name wpgoby.com – .com is the top level domain. Most companies will offer the .com TLD but domain name registrars offer many others that you could use if your chosen domain name is already taken.
Faster turn around when a server crashes
You have built a beautiful website that is starting to turn a decent profit and then it happens – the website crashes. You try to contact the support but are stuck with email support and they usually get back to you in 2 hours or more. When your domain name is registered elsewhere you can simply setup a new server from a back up and direct your domain name to it. You can be back up and running in under an hour.
The same scenario can be applied for a hacked server. Instead of trying to clean the server, just take a back up before the site got hacked and set up a new server and direct the domain names to it.
