If you want to register a domain name to ensure that no one else will take it, but you have not created the web site for it yet, you could park it. That is a service that registrar companies offer whenever a domain name isn't connected to any web or e-mail hosting service. This way, you'll be able to protect a brand name, for example, and you'll own the domain address in question even though it won't load any content. If you'd like, you can pick some standard template that the registrar offers, like For Sale or Under Construction, or you can direct the domain to an alternative web address. The second option is extremely helpful if you own a few domains, but you want each and every one of them to open the same website. For example, you can register domain.net and domain.org, then park them and direct them to domain.com. In this example, you are going to need hosting for the third domain only and the traffic to the other ones will be redirected to it.