Choose a Domain Name and Buy Web Hosting

What is a domain name?

A domain name is the internet address of a site. (For example, websitesetupguide.com is the domain name of this site.) You'll need to choose a domain name.

A domain name will cost around US$10-20 per year, but some web hosts will give you one for free.

Some domain name advice

• A good domain name is simple, short, and obvious.
• Good domain names are getting scarce. Be prepared to come up with dozens of names before you find one that's not taken.
• Buy a .com domain name, even though it's harder to get a good one. Cheap domain names like .biz, .ws and .info are usually markers of low quality.
• Acronyms are fine, but avoid abbreviations. Also, don't use numbers or dashes (without very good reason.)
• Try to have your site name match its domain name. If you can, name your site to match its domain name, not the other way round.
• If you can, consider a made-up name. Many major sites have nonsensical names.

What is web hosting?

Web hosting is where your website actually sits, on a hard disk, in a building somewhere, when you put it on the internet. You'll need to purchase web hosting, to put your site on.

Likely Cost: up to US$10 per month.

Choosing a web hosting provider is not easy. There's a huge number of very similar web hosts out there, and 99% of the information about them is from dishonest "review" sites.

Feel free to do your own research into web hosting, but I think you'll find it mind-boggling.

Here's my recommendation:

My recommendation for web hosting

I recently switched my sites to FatCow hosting, and it's been good so far. I chose FatCow because it has more positive reviews, on web hosting forums, than any other host I can find. It offers everything that a typical web host does, at a far lower price, and includes a free domain name. It also sells Canadian and UK domain names (.ca and .co.uk).

I've looked around for some really cheap web hosting that I could recommend as a second option, but I haven't found anything good that's cheaper than FatCow.

Buying web hosting

This is a link to a discount voucher for FatCow. When you're ready to sign up for web hosting and a domain name, visit FatCow through this link, and they'll give you 50% off the price: (Make sure you remember to click this link, and that the price displayed is $3.67 a month.)

Also, if you use FatCow, I can tell you exactly what to do, to set up your website.

Web hosting is the only thing you have to pay for, to set up a website. Everything else can be done for free.

Option 1: Set up a website using WordPress

Once you have web hosting and a domain name, the next step is to choose how you'll go about setting up your website. One way to set up a website is to use the popular, free, "WordPress" system. You log in to the WordPress control panel on your website. You can add pages, edit them, change your site's layout, or add other functionality to your site without any technical know-how. This system is ideal for blogs or other journal-type sites, and for sites that will be edited by multiple people. If you just want to set up a website quickly and easily, or if you're unsure, then I recommend choosing this option.

Option 2: Set up a website using a web page editor

A web page editor is a program on your computer. You use it to design your website and then upload your website to the internet. You'll have complete control over your site, but you'll have to learn how to do everything yourself. If you're serious about learning web design, or you're happy to put in a bit more time, then choose this option. Dreamweaver and Expression Web are popular web page editors.