Every website needs a place on the internet and the domain name is its address.
Rather than having to type in a long set of numbers to find a website, a domain name (also known as a web address) is a more user-friendly way of referencing an IP address. This IP address is the technical address of a website with the domain name being the “real” version of it.
Your domain name is how potential visitors will find you, i.e. the equivalent of a sign above a real life shop.
It’s what people would type into a browser window to go to a website (e.g. www.silverwebsites.co.uk).
Everything after the www part is the domain name. In fact you don’t even need to type in the www part, e.g. you could just type https://silverwebsites.co.uk.
A device that searches for this address (laptop, tablet, mobile etc.) is communicating with the server. The server then sends that device all the bits and bobs to display the website so the device can view the website pages.
When someone types in a domain name into a website browser, it sends a request to a global network of servers that form the Domain Name System (DNS). These servers are computers used by the website hosting company and they use this request to know which server holds the website information which is then sent back to their website browser.
Every domain name needs to be registered and renewed each year to keep the website active and we can do this on your behalf (or if you prefer to do it yourself that’s fine too).