Web hosting companies often offer the ability to host multiple domains on one account. You may also point mulitple domain names to one web site. Keep reading to learn how multiple domain web hosting works and the pros and cons of hosting multiple domains.

One of the most important parts of your online business is your Web site, or your domain. A domain name is your address on the Web. It is the way that people find you online. An example of your domain name is yourcompany.com. If you are interested in drawing online business, then you need to have a domain name. But what if you need more than one domain name? In many cases, it is possible to get multiple domain names on one Web hosting account. 

Multiple domain names

Having the ability to have multiple domain names is one that many people prize. This way, it is possible for you to use the same hosting account to manage domains beyond your company Web site. For example, you could have yourcompany.com, yourfamilysite.com and yourhobbysite.com all on one hosting account. This is completely different from something like yourhobby.yourcompany.com, in which you have a subdomain of your regular Web domain. This significantly cuts down on the confusion and other issues that can result from trying to run multiple domain names off of multiple Web hosting accounts.

For those who are resellers, this can also be helpful, since you can manage your clients' domain names from one account. This is because you access all of the domains from your Web host administration panel. You can choose each domain on an individual basis, from the panel, and address problems and tweak the template as needed. It is important to realize that multiple domains on one Web hosting account share resources as well.

When you have Web hosting for multiple domains, you can save money. Separate Web hosting accounts can add up individually. However, there are many Web hosts who are more than happy to let you host a number of domains at once. It is important to realize, though, that the highest quality Web hosts will limit your domain names. You may only be able to host up to five domains, for example, or 10, depending on how much diskspace and bandwidth are available. If you get too many domains on one hosting account, you can slow down load times and increase the chances that one (or all) of your domains will crash.

While multiple domain names can save you money on Web hosting costs for more than one domain, it is important to realize that you have to pay to register each separate domain with an accredited registrar. There is no way to get around this. This is a separate fee from what you pay in Web hosting. Unless, of course, your Web host is also an accredited registrar. In this case, it is possible for you to register a domain name (or multiple domain names) at the same time you arrange your Web hosting.

An alternate meaning for multiple domain names

In some cases, multiple domain names means something different. You might decide to register different domain names to point to the same Web site, or host them as "pointers" to your main site. For example, you might register yourcompany.net and yourcompany.biz in addition to yourcompany.com. You might also try alternate spellings and hyphenations. That way, it would prevent others from capitalizing on your domain name by reaping the benefits of your work. Anytime someone typed in the wrong domain name, you would still receive the traffic.

In the end, if you want to have multiple domain names, you can arrange it with your Web host. You can have different domain names on one hosting account, or you can have different domain names that lead to the same Web site. It all depends on what you prefer, and what works best for your business.

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