When you in bark on a new journey to start your own website, you will most likely start by choosing your own domain name. In this article we will look at what is the difference between a domain and a subdomain in order for you to make an informed decision when you are working on your next online project.
The domain name is the address of your website that people type in the browser URL bar to visit your website, for example, “instabiz.co.za”. A layman’s example would be to say if your website was a house, the domain would be the address to the house.
The internet is a vast network of millions of computers connected to each other through a global network of cables. Each computer in the network can communicate with each other, and to accomplish that each computer is assigned an IP address. An Ip address is a series of numbers to identify a particular computer on the internet. A typical example of an IP address is 192.168.1.1. IP addresses are usually difficult to remember and imagine you had to type in IP addresses for all the sites you want to visit.
Expanding on above example, imagine you had to type in something like GPS coordinates to visit your friend’s house.
Therefore domain names were invented, and now you do not have to type in long confusing and forgettable strings of numbers to visit websites.
A subdomain is an add-on to your primary domain name. Essentially, a subdomain is a separate part of your website that operates under the same primary domain name. To create a subdomain, you must have a primary domain name. Without a primary domain name, there’s no way to add a subdomain.
Subdomains give you the freedom of creating an entirely new website, while still using the same domain name. Plus, you can usually create an unlimited number of subdomains for every domain you own. If you have a domain called bookstore.com, an example of a subdomain could be shop.bookstore.com and blog.bookshop.com.
Taking our example of a house address, a subdomain would be the same as when you would build another house on the same property. The new house will be separate from the old house, but it will still be part of the same address.
As you’ll learn below, there are a few scenarios when using a subdomain makes sense.
If your website requires an extensive support, tutorial, resource or documentation page, then a subdomain might be very useful. When you’re trying to create and structure a lot of different content, you’ll need to think about how you can organize this content, so it’s easy to access and digest. For example, you’ll find a separate support section at Google that’s using a subdomain, support.google.com. Other types of websites might create a separate tutorials section, a knowledge base, or any other aspect of the site that requires extensive content management outside of a traditional blog.
Some website owners may want to isolate their company blog from the rest of their site. Usually, this is done when the main website isn’t equipped with the right features or software to effectively manage a blog.
For example, maybe your main website is built around trying to get people to download an app, but, you want to create a company blog for content marketing purposes. The only issue is you don’t want to redesign your website with a new framework.
In this case, using a subdomain makes sense. Just create the subdomain of “blog.myapp.com,” and you can install a CMS like WordPress on your new subdomain. Then, your only goal should be to try and mirror your existing design as close as possible.
This is a common approach that a lot of startups take. The blog isn’t the main focus of their company, so they operate it like a separate entity.
eCommerce stores require more strict security guidelines and protocols in place to protect sensitive financial information. This might require that you install specific software, or even upgrade your SSL certificate. You might not require this across the rest of your site, so you can host your eCommerce store on a subdomain instead, like “store.mydomain.com” or “shop.mydomain.com.”
By hosting your eCommerce store on a subdomain you also give yourself the opportunity to design a high converting storefront. By being able to pick an eCommerce specific theme you’ll have an online store that’s built from the ground up to help you sell more products. Instead of having to hack together a presentable design from your existing site.
When you’re going through a website redesign, it can be helpful to be able to see a live version of it. To do this, you can create a subdomain that allows you to build a new website entirely from scratch. This way, you’ll be able to insert links, images, videos, and more and see how your website works completely in real-time. You can even send traffic to your subdomain to see how users interact with your new site as well. Gaining real-time user feedback can be invaluable and help you avoid launching a new site that doesn’t align with their needs and expectations. When you’re ready to make your new site live, just transfer over your redesigned site to your primary domain. You can even password protect the subdomain you’re using to redesign your site, so your visitors won’t be able to view your unfinished site accidentally.
Do you have a new market you want to expand into, a new product you want to test, or a new idea you have for your site, but want to check it first? Whatever your reason, a subdomain allows you to do all of these things and more. When you create a subdomain, you’re giving yourself a clean slate. You essentially have a brand new website to work with, without the hassle of setting up a new domain. Now, you can create a mini-site to test your new idea. Then, if it works, you can add this section to your existing site. A subdomain can give you creative freedom without having to sacrifice the existing user experience.
Sometimes you want to use different software on your site, for instance a invoicing system or a web app, whilst your main site runs on another platform, like WordPress. You can then create a subdomain to run that software independently from your main site, for example, invoices.mysite.com.
You now have a better understanding of how domain names and subdomains work, as well as the situations when you’ll use a domain or subdomain. To put things simply, you’ll need a domain name whenever you want to create a website that’s accessible via the internet. Subdomains are an extension of your primary domain name and are used for site organization or redesign purposes, or even to host your blog or eCommerce store. Whenever you’re choosing a new domain name make sure you do you research, as a great domain name is a crucial part of your online brand. Once you’re done brainstorming the perfect domain name, see if it’s available for your new project right here at InstaBiz.
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