Customers who are new to the hosting industry, at times, get confused when they first log in into their Control panel and narrow the parked, addon, and subdomain options. In this post, we will explain these types of domain uses so that you know what you should be going for, to match your requirements.
What is a Domain Name?
A domain name is the address of a website that internet users type in their browser URL bar in order to visit a specific website. Every website is identified by a unique series of numbers called an IP address. This numeric set is what your computer uses to find and connect to the server where the website data lives. A typical IP address looks similar to this: 182.289.23.80
Numbers may be great for computers, but in general, for humans, they are hard to remember, especially when compared to words. The words used to identify entities on the Internet are known as the domain or URL, and just like the IP address, they're unique to each website. So Instead of using numbers to visit a website, all you need to know is the domain name of that website, and then type it into your browser URL bar (e.g., fastcomet.com).
A domain name can be any combination of letters and numbers, and it can be used in combination with the various domain name extensions (TLDs), such as .com, .net and more.
The domain name must be registered before you can use it. Every domain name is unique. No two websites can have the same domain name. If someone types in www.yourdomain.com, it will go to your website and no one else's.
Addon Domain
An Addon Domain is an additional domain name which points to its own folder within public_html. It appears into the browser as a second website from your primary domain with its own unique content. This type of domain of course, does require you to register the new domain name prior you can host it.
Addon domains are fully functional domains that can be created from within your cPanel. Having an addon domain can be compared to having multiple hosting plans that share the same cPanel. Just as with your primary domain, you can create email addresses, forwarders, etc. The difference here is that there is no separate control panel, meaning the files of your addon domain share your primary domain’s cPanel.
Why You Need an Addon Domain
The majority of site owners use addon domains for various reasons. Most commonly, addon domains are used to allow creating multiple websites under multiple domains without having to sign up with more than one hosting accounts. All that is most useful when you want to create or operate a website that would have minimal traffic and, without requiring a hosting service entirely for itself. The addon domain feature is not only convenient, but it also saves money in the long run.
How to Create an Addon Domain
It is quite easy to create Addon Domain. You just login into your cpanel and search for addon domain icon and click. You may add your domain in the box. However, there are limits for you to create addon domain based on your hosting package.
Parked Domain
Parked domain (known as Aliases in cPanel) are additional domains that point to the same website as the primary domain. A parked domain is NOT a unique website. Instead, it is a masked forward to the primary domain name of your cPanel account, much like a website alias.
Typically, most sites have a single domain name or a URL that leads to them. With parked domains, you get multiple URLs that lead to the same website.
Why you Need a Parked Domain
There are multiple ways to take advantage of parked domains, such as:
- Making sure common misspellings of your primary domain name also lead to your website;
- Registering your primary domain under various Top-Level Domains (TLDs);
- Saving quality names with the purpose to sell them in the future;
- Creating extra email accounts via your alias, which would forward messages to your primary domain;
Additionally, parked domains can refer to URLs that you don’t point to a particular website, but rather use them as marketing tools, pointing to your Facebook page or YouTube channel.
Subdomain
A subdomain is a subset or a smaller part of a larger domain. A complete domain name includes a top level domain name (TLD) and a second level domain (SLD). The TLD is the part that occurs right after the last dot of the domain name. A Subdomain is an additional part of any registered domain, allowing you to send visitors to a different web address or allowing you to point to specific IP addresses or directories in your hosting account, without having to register a new domain name. Users create subdomains to organize or divide different sections of their websites, making them look like they are different websites.
Why you Need a Subdomain
There are multiple ways to use a subdomain, but the most common one is perhaps for testing or staging environments. Developers often use those to safely test new plugins, themes, or updates.
Other common uses of subdomains are:
- To create a blog, gallery, forum, etc. (blog.example.com);
- To create aneCommercestore;
- To create a mobile version of a website (m.example.com);
- To create location-specific sites (us.example.com);
- To serve a specific group of users on a website (user.example.com).
Keep in mind that your subdomains will not be affecting the SEO of your main website. That’s one of the main reasons we advise against using subdomains for long-term projects.
