A web host provides the hardware and services necessary for making your site available on the internet. This service is separate to domain registration, a domain name merely provides a pointer to your host server, for more information on domain registration please see “What is a domain?”.
A host will generally provide the following:
- Storage space for your website and email.
- Bandwidth for transferring data to and from the server.
- Technical support.
- Server software and security.
- Ongoing hardware maintenance and upgrades.
The quality of these services naturally varies from web host to web host. For information on our hosting packages and support please visit our Hosting page.
A domain name is your unique address on the internet (eg: kilbot.com.au). Domains are available from Domain Name Registrars. The registrars charge a yearly or biannual fee and so long as you continue to pay the fee no one else can register or use that domain name.
A domain name contains an extension called the TLD. The most common TLD is the .com (short for commercial). The equivalent TLD in Australia is the .com.au. Functionally there is no difference between a .com and a .com.au - the internet will deal with each equally - however you do need an Australian Business Number (or similar) to register for a .com.au. Other TLDs have similar restrictions, for example a .org.au can only be registered by a non-profit organisation, a .edu.au can only be registered by an educational institution etc.
The Kilbot Factory is not a Domain Name Registrar, but we do offer to register domains on your behalf, this proves convenient for some clients as we can handle the technical and billing management. If you would like to register a domain name with us please visit the shopping cart. If you would like to register and manage domain names on your own, we recommend visiting NetRegistry for Australian TLDs and GoDaddy for most others (including .com).