Domain basics
What is a domain name?
If you have ever wondered what a domain is, or how it connects to your website, this guide explains it in plain English. No jargon, no upsell.
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Domain name: what is it?
A domain name is the address people type to find you online, like yourbusiness.com.au. You register it through a domain registrar and renew it yearly.
It is not your website itself. Think of it like a street address: the address tells people where to go, but the building on the block is your actual site. You can change what sits behind the address (your website, your hosting) without necessarily changing the address itself.
Domain, website, and hosting: what is the difference?
These three get mixed up constantly, and for good reason. They all work together.
Domain name: your online address (e.g. sitesubs.com.au). You pay a registrar to reserve it.
Website: the pages, text, images, and code visitors see when they arrive. This lives on a server somewhere.
Hosting: the server that stores your website files and serves them to browsers. Without hosting, your domain has nowhere to point.
When someone visits your domain, DNS (explained below) tells their browser which hosting server to load your site from.
What is DNS?
DNS stands for Domain Name System. It is the phone book of the internet: it translates a human-readable domain name into the numeric address of a server.
When you connect a domain to your website or email, you update DNS records. These include A records (point to your website), MX records (point to your email provider), and CNAME records (aliases). You usually do this in your registrar or hosting control panel.
You do not need to become a DNS expert to run a business website. You just need to know that DNS is what links your domain to the services behind it.
How it works
The parts of a domain name
Once you know what a domain is, it helps to recognise how one is structured.
- 01
The name you choose
The unique part you pick, like "sitesubs" in sitesubs.com.au. Keep it short, easy to spell, and close to your business name.
- 02
The extension (TLD)
The suffix after the dot: .com, .com.au, .net, and so on. Australian businesses often use .com.au because it signals a local, registered business.
- 03
The registrar
The company you pay to register and renew the domain: Namecheap, GoDaddy, VentraIP, and others. They hold the registration on your behalf.
- 04
What happens next
After you register a domain, you point it at your hosting and set up email if you need it. That is where DNS comes in, and where most people get stuck.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
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