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These are two separate entities. The domain is your website name like "MySite.com". This is registered as a separate function, however some hosting services will also do this for you. Some hosts will not want to maintain (administrate) your domain registration if you move to another hosting service. An excellent hosting company is
BLUEHOST.COM, which includes domain registration. The Hosting Service is where your site actually resides. They own the server where the site is located. The domain registration information points to the server where your site is stored. There are a separate set of access codes for domain maintenance and the hosting service. DO NOT LOOSE THEM OR GIVE THEM OUT ARBITRARILY! Domain ownership may be changed with these codes, among other things! Once you have your domain registered, you may now find a host for your website unless your hosting service registered your domain. There are TONS of hosting services out there, many with different rates and services. Things that would be helpful in selecting a hosting company are: |
| • | How much space do you need? What do they charge for exceeding that space? |
| • | How many email addresses do you need? |
| • | Do you need re-directs? |
| • | Do you need auto responders? |
| • | Do you need PHP (Unix Server), ASP (Windows Server), or CGI support for forms, etc.? (Personally I prefer a Unix variant environment, as I do not support ASP.) |
| • | Do they provide a "maintenance panel" for emails, re-directs, protected directories, and such? |
| • | Do they have a limit on traffic before they start surcharges? |
| • | If they are developing your site, what is their average response time for change requests. |
| • | Compare various hosting fees for similar services. Some can be as much as $15.00 or more different per month. |