When establishing a new website on the internet, you’ll need to create an account with a Domain Registrar, a Hosting Provider, and a DNS provider. This video explains the purpose of each service, and provides a very basic explanation of how they work together. Don’t feel like watching the video? Try reading the transcript, below:

If you do not already own the URL of your site, the first step is choosing a Domain Registrar. A domain registrar is a service that manages the reservation and administration of domain names. Here, you purchase and manage your website’s unique, human-readable address, called the domain – for example, BeamandHinge.com. We use the term, “purchase” but you must regularly renew payment to maintain ownership of the domain name – usually on a yearly basis.

Common domain registrars include GoDaddy and Network Solutions. Depending on your domain registrar, Beam and Hinge will provide further instructions for sharing with us limited but helpful access to your account.

Next we’ll discuss your Hosting Provider. A Hosting Provider owns the very powerful computers, called “servers”, that house the files, images, and data that comprise individual websites. When you create an account for site hosting, you are essentially renting space on the site host’s servers. That space you rent has an address, known as your “IP Address”. IP addresses are comprised only of numbers and decimals — for example 172.67.209.108. IP addresses are computer-readable, but not so easy for humans to memorize.

Popular Hosting Providers include BlueHost, Hostgator, and our often recommended service, SiteGround. Depending on your hosting provider, Beam and Hinge will provide further instructions for sharing with us limited but necessary access to your account.

So, if you type into your internet browser’s search bar, “BeamandHinge.com”, how does it know to send you to 172.67.209.108? The translation from human-readable text to computer-readable IP address is handled through your site’s DNS records, which are housed with a DNS provider – the third account you may, or may not, need to set up.

DNS provider companies own the powerful computers – nameservers – that house the DNS records for individual domains. Your site’s DNS records serve as both a phone book and an instruction manual for your domain, translating and giving directions.

Here are a couple of examples of how DNS records work:

When you type in “BeamandHinge.com” your browser uses the human-readable address to find that site’s DNS provider. Using a specific type of DNS record, called the A record, the DNS provider translates the human-readable language into the IP address, and sends your browser’s request on to the actual IP address where your website is hosted.

Your DNS records also help route the emails sent to any recipient @yourdomain. When an email is sent, it passes through your DNS, where a different specific type of DNS record, called the MX record, routes it to your email provider – maybe Google or Microsoft.

These are only two examples of the myriad ways DNS records are used to optimize your domain.

By default, when you register your site with your domain registrar, that provider will also provide nameservers for your DNS records. For increased performance and security, we recommend moving your DNS to a different provider. In most cases, our recommended provider for this is Cloudflare, but your account manager will discuss your particular best option with you.

Thanks for choosing Beam & Hinge as your web partner. We hope this short overview has been helpful, and we encourage you to contact your account manager with any questions.