There are two services you 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 is uploaded inside the website hosting account, but if that domain name 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 does not 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 could be directed to some other URL of your choice. The advantage of parking a domain is that you can keep it and be sure that no one else is going to take it. At the same time, it won't block a slot for a hosted domain address in your account. You could also park domains if you have a .com, for example, and you register domains with other extensions such as .net, .org or country-code ones to forward them to the main web site in order to protect a brand name.