There are two separate services you'll need for a functioning web site - a domain name and a hosting plan for it. If you type the domain name in your Internet browser, you see the content that’s uploaded inside the hosting account, but if that domain address isn't linked to such an account or to an e-mail service, it's parked. In other words, the domain address is registered and you're its owner, but it doesn't have any content of its own. As a substitute, it can open either a pre-made “Under Construction / For Sale” page from the registrar company, or it can be forwarded to any other URL of your choice. The main advantage of parking a domain address is that you can keep it and make sure that nobody else is going to take it. In the meantime, it won't occupy a slot for a hosted domain name inside 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 website in order to protect a brand name.