A domain name is a unique string of text that’s used to identify a specific resource on the internet. This could be anything from a website to an email or FTP server.

When you access a website, its domain name is converted to a set of numbers (an IP address) to communicate with the website server to send requests for and receive website content.

Domain names are designed for people

Everything could theoretically be handled using just IP addresses when you want to bring up a web page in your browser. In fact, adding a domain name adds an extra step in that there needs to be a way to convert from a domain name to an IP address (more on that below).

Imagine that, instead of remembering everyone’s name, you had to remember their phone number or social security number whenever you wanted to talk about them. Or imagine going into an electronics store and finding there are no more brands, device names, or model names. Everything just has a serial number that you have to remember if you want to buy it.

While you can use a domain name for a website or email account, it’s not the same as a website or email itself. In other words, all websites and email accounts require a domain name, but having a domain name doesn’t automatically mean that you have a website or email account