There are two separate services you'll need for a functioning web site - a domain name and a hosting plan for it. Whenever you type the domain address in your web browser, you see the content that’s uploaded within the web hosting account, but if that Internet domain isn't linked to such an account or to an e-mail service, it is parked. In other words, the domain name is registered and you're its owner, but it doesn't have any content of its own. Instead, it can open either a pre-made “Under Construction / For Sale” Internet page from the registrar company, or it may be forwarded to some other URL of your choice. The main benefit of parking a domain name is that you can keep it and make certain that nobody else will take it. At the same time, it's not going to take a slot for a hosted domain name in your account. You may also park domains if you have a .com, for instance, and you register domain names with other extensions such as .net, .org or country-code ones to direct them to the main web site so as to protect a brand name.