Nathan Bransford - The Forums

I went through http://www.bluehost.com/ to get my domain name and host my website. Go Daddy is the big name, but probably not the best one out there.

I'd also give a shout out to this website http://www.timothywebdesign.com/, which has some amazing (and free) resources for folks just getting started. For his recommendations on hosting services: http://www.timothytraining.net/web-desi ... urces.html.

As for building the website, I did it myself using Dreamweaver. (Link below.) The same guy who put together the resources cited above has a series of in-depth YouTube videos on building a website from scratch in Dreamweaver. It helps if you know a little HTML but overall it is UNBELIEVABLE.

Good luck!

Unless you want to spend the money (or time) developing a site, I think the easiest thing is to turn your blog into your website. It cuts down on time since you're at one site. I used to design websites (for super computer illiterate folks who wanted something done cheap) for a low fee using WYSIWYG programs. I've used GoDaddy's website builder (don't recommend), Yahoo's (also don't recommend), and Wix (was so/so). Wix is the cheapest and the easiet to use of the three.

But I've started recommending to my "clients" just integrate their blog and web presence onto one site. If you use Blogspot, you can purchase your domain through them and it does all of the configuring for you. Plus it's super cheap--$10 once a year.

You can have the blog and buy the domain elsewhere. I developed a blog for my mom's business using Blogspot and then bought the domain at GoDaddy (don't ask me why) and it was a nightmare to reconfigure (changing settings and so on).

I will eventually purchase a domain for my blog/website, although I've already set it up to be both. I have pages with all my info, etc. If I actually get published then I might think about getting a separate website then. I figure I would have the money to be pay the monthly fees, etc then!

Registering a Domain name is very simple. Visit a reliable domain name registrar's site. For example you can visit http://www.WhoisXY.com i have registered all my domains here. Search for your required domain. If it is available you can register it with just few clicks. Domain names here are very low in cost You will get 24/7 customer support too.

Being from an IT background, GoDaddy is on people's crap list lately. They were involved in a major kerfuffle over SOPA/PIPA laws restricting freedom online, and people ditched them in droves. As well, I have heard reports of their service going to crap as well.

The one name that kept coming up with people switching over was namecheap http://www.namecheap.com/

Disclosure:
I don't work for either entity. I'm just a guy on the internet, so you can do what you want .