It is important to realise that the terms domain and domain name are not the same thing.
In the context of hosting, a domain is the area of the server with the website files, account settings, e-mail addresses, etc., whereas a domain name is what people will type to get to the domain.
Domain/Domain Name Analogy
Let us assume that the domain is the country Wales, and the domain name is the name of the country, again Wales. They may look the same but they are actually very different. It is not possible to have more than one Wales (more than one domain), but it is possible for it to have more than one name (to have many domain names). For example:
- In Spanish, Wales is called País de Gales
- In Italian, Wales is called Il Galles
- In French, Wales is called Le Pays de Gales
When you say País de Gales, Il Galles or Le Pays de Gales, you are referring to the same place, but by a different name. The place and end location when travelling there is the same, but the name you used to get there was different. A domain name in this context could be País de Gales, Il Galles or Le Pays de Gales and a domain the actual land mass that is Wales.
How many Domains will I need?
How man domains you need on your account will depend on how many websites you wish to run. For example:
- my-hobby.com
A site about your personal hobbies, possibly a CMS system with How To's, etc. - me-at-work.net
A site about your business or place of work. This could be a blog where you tell everyone what a wonderful company you work for! - the-family.info
A site dedicated to your family. A photo gallery or two could go on here.
In the above example you will have three domains (one for each of the hobby, work and family sites). You will also have three domain names (my-hobby.com, me-at-work.net, the-family.com). If you were purchasing a hosting plan for this example you would need one that supports three domains.
In a second example, for:
- my-hobby.com
- my-hobby.net
- my-hobby.co.uk
we only need to use a single domain, with my-hobby.com hosting the website and my-hobby.net & my-hobby.co.uk pointing to (or set as aliases for) my-hobby.com. This is only one domain with three domain names used to get to that domain. No matter which domain name you use, the end result is the same site.
If you were purchasing a hosting plan for this setup you would need one domain.
