The domain name is much like an entry in a phone book. Computers communicate by using numbers, called IP addresses, to contact each other, much like you use a phone number to dial a specific person's phone. If you want people to find your business's phone number, you want to be listed in a phone book. The phone book tells people looking for your phone number Company A's Phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx just as a domain tells people (i.e. their computers) domainA.com is hosted on the server xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Without the domain, you would have to tell your customers Hey my site is located at 123.456.789.123/~mysite/ instead of mysite.com You can see how, without a domain, having a site or hosting is impractical.
The web-hosting or server portion is much like the space that you rent out to have your business in. It's merely the space itself. It does not include furnishings like shelves for your products, just as the web-hosting account doesn't include a site for you to sell your products. Luckily, in the web-hosting world, it's very easy to furnish the space provided by your host, because you can install many framework applications through the Fantastico icon within your cPanel. Without the hosting services, you won't have a place for your files to reside, so your domain would then become like a disconnected phone number in the phone directory, and your site files would have nowhere to stay.
