Full Transcript
Lauren: Okay, so a friend of mine is finally getting serious about her business website. And she calls me all confused because someone told her she needs a domain, hosting, AND a website. And she goes... wait, aren't those all the same thing?
Honor: Welcome to the 805 Web Minute with Lauren and Honor... We make interwebs and website stuff make sense... Let's get into it.
Honor: Okay, so this is one of the most common confusions I hear from business owners. And honestly, the terminology doesn't help. But there's actually a really simple way to think about it.
Lauren: Please, because I've been nodding along for years pretending I understand this.
Honor: Think of it like a house. Your domain name is your street address... like 123 Main Street. It's what people type in to find you.
Lauren: Okay, so like yougrow.pro or whatever-dot-com.
Honor: Exactly. And that typically costs 10 to 20 dollars a year. That's it.
Lauren: Wait, a year? Not a month?
Honor: A year. And here's something interesting... 76 percent of people trust dot-com domains more than other extensions. So if you can get a dot-com for your business, it's worth it.
Lauren: Oh! That's good to know. Okay so what's hosting then?
Honor: Hosting is like the land your house sits on. It's where your website files actually live. A computer somewhere that's connected to the internet 24/7, serving up your site when people visit.
Lauren: So it's like... renting space on someone else's computer?
Honor: Exactly right. And for small businesses, that usually runs 5 to 15 dollars a month for decent hosting. You don't need the fancy stuff unless you're getting massive traffic.
Lauren: Okay and then the website itself is...?
Honor: That's the actual house! The building, the rooms, the furniture inside. It's the pages, the design, the text, the images. Everything people actually see when they visit.
Lauren: Ohhh. So an address without a house is useless. A house without an address can't be found. And land without a building is just... empty dirt.
Honor: You just nailed it. You need all three.
Lauren: Okay but why does this matter? Like, why should my friend care about the difference?
Honor: Because when you don't understand what you're paying for, things get expensive fast. I've seen people accidentally paying for hosting twice because one package included it and they didn't realize.
Lauren: Oh no...
Honor: And worse... if your web designer registers your domain in THEIR name, they control it. Not you.
Lauren: That's like... hiring someone to build you a house and finding out they put their name on the deed! And now you're paying rent on your own home!
Honor: That's exactly what happens. I've heard stories of business owners locked out of their own web addresses because they didn't know who actually owned the domain.
Lauren: Yikes. So what's the one thing my friend should do?
Honor: Know what you're paying for and make sure everything is in YOUR name. Domain, hosting, all of it. If you can't log in and see it yourself, you don't really own it.
Lauren: So the moral of the story is... understand the difference between domain, hosting, and website. Make sure you own all three. And if that sounds like too much homework... give YouGrow a call!
Honor: Yeah, with us everything is bundled. 79 dollars a month. Domain help, hosting, website, updates... all included. You don't have to juggle five different services from five different companies. One bill, one phone number, one person to call. I'm in Arroyo Grande. I pick up the phone.
Lauren: Love it. Alright, this has been 805 Web Minute. Thanks for listening!