Web Host?

i don't know best or easiest, but two i can recommend for hosting are bluehost and hostgator. they are about $100-120 per year. with bluehost you get a free domain (as long as you keep paying your yearly subscription). you can also get domains through other sites like namecheap.

 

If you don't even understand how to get a URL (you rent, not own), you probably should look into creating a blog / site with wordpress.com

or you can self host with wordpress.org

 

I'm afraid you're pretty confused...

First of all, I think you want a domain name, not a "URL". And domain names have nothing to do with your host, except that some hosts do incidentally provide domain registration as a free or add-on service.

So, first things first. You need a name. You need to get the name from a registrar, which is a company that provides domain-name registration services. Domain names are registered for 1-year periods, and you can pre-pay for multiple years if you wish. They're pretty inexpensive these days, typically less than $10/year.

Godaddy is a popular registrar. My own favorite is Moniker, though.

It can be hard to find a good available name these days. You may need to go to an "alternative" TLD (Top Level Domain) as opposed to the most popular .com to get a decent name.

You might want to consider buying the rights to a domain name that somebody already has registered. I recently paid about $500 for one that I intend to develop (peepr.com) and sold one I wasn't using for the same price (stockclub.com). Both transactions were done through SEDO, which I highly recommend. I really recommend fixed-price listings for both buying and selling. Both of these were done with fixed-price listings. (I probably sold the latter for too little, since it was bought by a company that buys domain names and immediately puts them back up for sale... But it accomplished the purpose of paying for the new one, which I do think I got a pretty good deal on.)

Once you have a name you are happy with, THEN go shopping for a web host. I don't recommend getting your domain name from your web host, because it is a business risk to put too many eggs in one basket. As well, some hosts are shady, especially when dealing with newbies, and put these "free" domain name registrations in their OWN name, locking you forever to their hosting service. (Some unscrupulous web designers and programmers have been known to pull this dirty trick as well...)

 

For domain name registration I recommend hover.com. It doesnt get simpler to register (no multiple page hoops to jump through full of ads) and their support is top notch (you won't wait on hold).

 

www.1and1.com good prices, web hosting, domain name registration, etc...

 

hostgator.com for hosting -- godaddy is a pain. Also, good idea to keep your hosting and your registrar separate in case you have issues and need to redirect your DNS to a backup host. When hosts go down do to issues like massive malware infestations it's almost impossible to get your information off of them: keep offsite backups (to a place like Amazon S3) so that you can recover your information fast.

If you're going to be doing all of that coding, I would start with a wordpress.org implementation -- it allows you to customize all of the code that powers a wordpress.com blog and the themes that they use.

 

Hostgator are AMAZING. Great support too.

 

+1 on this! When I got my first domain name, which was free with the hosting service, I was able to get my last name as the name, mainly because I was an early entrant to the Web. When I went to change to another provider, I was lucky that the host was honest and let me transfer the domain name hosting, which was indeed in their name. But in retrospect it's easy to see how I could have been extorted.

I do currently have domain name and web hosting with the same company (Godaddy.com and my 4th web host, I've been there 5 years now) but they are separate transactions and I don't use their "free domain with hosting". I don't expect they will fly-by-night.

 

is that a site for all the peepin toms of the world!?!

 

www.lithiumhosting.com for hosting. You won't even think about choosing another web host once you've chose these guys.

for domain purchasing, namecheap.com.

 

I think bluehost and hostgator is the best hosting provider which you can choose for your site. for domain name purchasing you can use godaddy as there you can choose the best domain you want in very cheap price.....

 

Excellent advice and always check how much the transfer out fee is for a domain registrar - it should be free.

 

as in the other similar thread: I recommend myhosting