Domains, hosting and email

Domains, DNS, renewals, hosting and email.

6 answers · Updated 2026-10-17

Every business website sits on three separate pieces of infrastructure, and most "my site is broken" or "my email stopped" stories come from mixing them up. The first is your domain, the name people type, such as yourcompany.com. You rent it from a company called a registrar, usually one year at a time. The second is your hosting, the computer that stores your pages, images and database and serves them to visitors. The third is DNS, the address book that connects the first two, and that also tells the world where your email should be delivered.

The reason this matters is that these pieces are often owned by different companies, under different logins, billed on different dates. A domain bought years ago by a former employee, hosting paid by a previous agency, and email running on Google or Microsoft is a very common picture. Nothing is wrong with that, but it means a change in one place can quietly break another. Edit one DNS record to point your website somewhere new and you can take your email offline in the same minute. Let the domain renewal fail and both the site and every email address vanish together.

Most of the damage in this area is avoidable, and it comes from a short list of habits. Know who your registrar is and which email address receives its notices. Keep auto-renew on and a valid card on file. Never delete a DNS record you do not recognize, because it is usually there for email or for a service you forgot about. Change things in the right order, with a lower TTL set in advance, and write down the old values before you touch anything. Confirm that mail still works after any change, not just that the website loads.

This section explains each piece in plain English and gives you the order to check things in. Start with what DNS is if the vocabulary is new, read domain renewal and expiry so you never lose a domain, and use point your domain to a new site before any launch. If something looks wrong and you are not sure what, send us a request with the details listed at the end of each article. We never need your passwords, and you should never send them.

All answers in domains, hosting and email

Start here

What is DNS? Domain, hosting and DNS explained
It gives you the vocabulary (domain, hosting, DNS, records, TTL) that every other article in this section assumes.
Domain renewal and expiry: how not to lose your domain
Losing a domain is the single most expensive mistake in this area, and it is almost always preventable with five minutes of checking.
Email and your domain: MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC and spam
If your mail goes to spam or stops arriving, the cause is nearly always in DNS, and this article shows you what to look at first.

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Questions about domains, hosting and email

What is the difference between a domain, hosting and DNS?

A domain is the name you rent (yourcompany.com). Hosting is the computer that stores and serves your website files. DNS is the directory that says which computer a name points to, and where email for that name should go. You can buy each from a different company, which is why changes in one place can affect the others. What is DNS explains the three side by side with a table.

Who should own my domain?

Your business should be the registered owner, with a login that your own team can access and an email address that someone actually reads. Problems start when a freelancer, a former employee or an old agency registered it in their own name. Check your registrar account and the contact details on the domain. Ownership terms for anything we manage are written in your proposal, and who owns your accounts covers how to check.

How do I know when my domain expires?

Log in to your registrar and look at the expiry date, or look it up in a public WHOIS tool. Your registrar also emails reminders to the contact address on the domain, so make sure that mailbox still exists. Turn on auto-renew and keep a valid card on file. The full lifecycle, including what happens after expiry, is in domain renewal and expiry.

Why did my website email go to spam or stop arriving?

Usually because the domain is missing or has a wrong SPF, DKIM or DMARC record, so receiving servers cannot confirm the mail is really yours. A recent DNS edit, a new sending tool, or a form plugin sending as your domain without being authorized are the common triggers. Email and your domain lists what to check, in order, and how to test.

Can I change my hosting without changing my domain?

Yes. Moving the site to a new host and moving the domain to a new registrar are two separate jobs, and you can do either without the other. Moving the site means copying files and the database and then updating DNS. Moving the domain is a registrar transfer. See move or transfer a domain for both, with a zero-downtime checklist.

Is it safe to edit DNS records myself?

It is safe if you copy the current records first, change one thing at a time, and understand what each record does. It is risky if you delete records you do not recognize, because they often control email or third-party tools. If you are unsure, ask before changing anything. Send us a screenshot of your current records through the support form and we will tell you which are safe to edit.