Domains, hosting and business email explained

Domains, hosting, DNS, email… it’s easy to get lost in the jargon. But understanding the basics protects your business — because whoever controls these controls your website and email. Here’s what you need to know, without the tech-speak.

The simple analogy

• Your domain (e.g. yourbusiness.co.uk) is your address.
• Your hosting is the building where your website lives.
• DNS is the signpost that tells the internet which building your address points to — and where to deliver your email.
• Business email is your post room, usually run by a separate service.

Domain names

A domain is rented, not bought — you register it for one or more years and renew it. For UK businesses serving UK customers, a .co.uk is a great choice; .com works well too. If you can, register both and point one at the other.

Tips for choosing one:

• Keep it short, easy to spell and easy to say out loud.
• Avoid hyphens and numbers if possible.
• Including your town can help if your business name is common — but don’t force it.

Expect to pay roughly £10–£20 a year. Watch out for very cheap first-year deals that renew at a much higher price.

Web hosting

Hosting is the computer (server) that stores your website and sends it to visitors. What you need depends on how your site is built:

• Lightweight, hand-coded sites can be hosted on modern platforms for very little — sometimes free — and are fast by default.
• WordPress and similar systems need a server that runs software and a database, and need regular updates. Decent managed hosting typically costs £10–£30 a month.
• Online shops on platforms like Shopify include hosting in the monthly subscription.

Whatever you choose, good hosting should include free SSL (the padlock), automatic backups and a reliable uptime record. Very cheap shared hosting is often slow, which costs you customers.

Business email

An address like hello@yourbusiness.co.uk looks more professional than a free webmail address and keeps everything under your business’s name. The two most popular services are Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, which start from around £5 per user per month and include calendars and file storage too.

Your email is set up by adding a few records to your domain’s DNS. That’s why it’s worth keeping website and email separate: you can change your website without your email going down.

DNS in one paragraph

DNS settings live wherever your domain is managed. They say “the website is on this server” and “email goes to this provider”. Changing them is quick, but a mistake can take your website or email offline — so it’s worth having someone who knows what they’re doing make changes, and writing down what was there before.

Staying in control: a checklist

1. The domain is registered in your name, with your own email address.
2. You have the logins for your domain registrar, hosting and email provider.
3. Auto-renew is switched on and the payment card is up to date.
4. Two-factor authentication (2FA) is turned on for all of them.
5. You have a recent backup of your website, and know where it is.
6. You’ve written down who to contact if something goes wrong.

With every Solent Web project, domains and accounts are set up in your name and you get a simple handover sheet with everything in one place. If you’re not sure who controls yours, drop me a line and I’ll help you find out.