What is a Domain Name?
A domain name is your address on the internet, like yourbusiness.com. It’s what people type in to find your website. You may also have it connected to your email services.
What is a Domain Registrar?
A domain registrar is a company that sells domain names. You go to them to buy or register a domain name. Examples include:
- GoDaddy
- Google Domains
- Namecheap
When you register a domain, you’re basically renting it each year. If you stop paying, someone else can take it.
What are Nameservers?
Once you have a domain, it needs to know where to send visitors. That’s what nameservers do. You set the nameservers in the settings for your domain at your domain registrar.
Think of nameservers like the traffic directors for your domain. They tell the internet, "This domain points to this website, this email service, etc."
Your registrar might provide default nameservers, but at Creative Link, we typically manage DNS for clients and set your nameservers to use Cloudflare (our preferred DNS management platform).
What are DNS Records?
DNS (Domain Name System) records are the detailed instructions that live on the nameservers.
Think of DNS records as the contact list for your domain. They tell the domain what to do, like:
- A record: points the domain to your website’s server (its IP address).
- MX record: controls where your email goes (like Gmail, Outlook, etc).
- CNAME record: used to alias one domain to another (like for subdomains).
- TXT record: often used for security and verification (like proving ownership).
We manage these records for our clients, so you don't have to worry about the technical details. If you need to add, modify, or remove a record, you can always submit a help ticket in our Client Area.