Why exactly do we need to buy a domain name when doing paid traffic?
What is the domain name used for and how many do we need? Is it one domain per offer you're running? Also can you host all your domains on one VPS server?
Sorry for all the questions, just want to make sure I get everything right.
Thanks
I'm also very new to this so take it all with a grain of salt but:
The domain name/s are needed to host tracking software, landing pages, and random things like Maxmind (geo location data).
It's generally advisable to host your tracking on a separate domain from your landing pages (although being new I haven't done this yet). This makes it harder to rip your stuff.
It doesn't have to be one domain per offer. For example if you pick a generic name like christiandatingoffers.com different landing pages would be www.yourdomain.com/landingpagename.html (or php)
Starting out one VPS server *should* be fine for multiple domains. It isn't until higher traffic that server capability becomes an issue, at least with the better companies.
Think of a domain name like a mailing address. You would typically send people to 46 Duncan St, Sydney, Australia (domain name), not to some longitude and latitude coordinates (IP address).
The domain name is just a pointer to a server IP address, it's really a vanity thing. However the end server reads the domain name supplied and from this it knows where to send the user internally, e.g. /somefolders/domain.com/index.html. Servers are computers remember, so if you just send someone to them they need to be told what to do with that user. With multiple domains pointing to one server you can easily tell the server to send user A to /somefolders/domain.com/index.html and user B to /somefolders/anotherdomain.com/index.html.
You can point directly to a server IP, which will send people to the default site set up on the server, but it's generally unwise to plaster your server IP address for everyone to see... It's trivial to find a server IP when you have a domain name but it's more a matter of just inviting idiots to try and mess with your stuff.
Lastly, what's easier to recall? mytrackingdomain.com or 167.224.213.58.
Thanks for the answer Zeno.
But how many domains do you need? For example, if I'm running multiple dating offers, do I need multiple domain names for each dating offer?
No, just pick something relevant and generic. You can use any domain you want for anything, just exercise some common sense, i.e. don't use www.getlaidtonight.com for your daily deals campaigns. Sends the wrong message to the 1% of users who may glance at the address bar.
In the end the domain name means very, very little.