Get a Domain Name
Before you decide to build your website you’ll need to decide on you website address – commonly called a URL. You can get these from domain registrars such as GoDaddy and MyFastDomains A domain name is really the identifier or web address that explains where your site is located. You can think of it like an email address that the user will type into their web browser to find your website.
Picking a domain name is simple, but then you’ll need to check that it isn’t already taken. You do this by typing a request for the domain name and see if it’s free or no. If it is, Bingo! If not then you’ll see several similar suggestions which may suit you.
It is imperative that you do not pick a domain name that uses trademarked phrases or trademarked names. If the company owning the trademark finds out then you could lose your domain to the company that holds the original trademark and you will be out all of the money you spent to register that domain name.
Got a Name, Now Get an Address
Once you have a domain name, you’ll need somewhere to host it. To get great hosting services at a really cheap rate, (less than $5 a month), you’ll be looking at shared web hosting.
A shared web hosting service is a virtual host that places a single individual’s website on the same server as a whole host of other websites. This isn’t a bad thing though even if the number of shared sites can range from hundreds to thousands. To keep the cost down in this situation, commonly all of the individual websites or domains share the resources of the server. It’s very economical and works really well.
Hands Off Too
You’ll find that shared web hosting service always includes all of the administrative services, which is perfect for the user that does not want to be hassled with the maintenance of the system itself. You don’t have to worry about security, software upgrades or any of the administration tasks that go into keeping servers up and running. That alone can give you gray hairs. And all for a few bucks a month!!
What About the Free Hosting Services?
You can find many places on the internet that will give you free web hosting, but they all come with their own stipulations and restrictions. For some of them you will have to put ads or banners on every single page of your website. This can mess up the look of your site and is not too appealing. But this is the way that these sites make money.
Other free hosting sites will allow you to have banner and ad free web pages. These sites will ask you to use certain formats and you will have to structure your site in a certain way so that it works with the hosting software. Again this usually proves to be too restrictive over time, especially if you’re looking to build a professional website or even start a web business.
Go on, spend a little cash, (in some cases very little), and go for a paid host. You’ll be glad you did!! And most paid hosts also have scripts available at the click of a button that allow you to install blogs, forums and even shopping carts on your site. So why are you still here? Go and get ‘On The Net’ right now!! Click Great Hosting for great cheap hosting and a special offer of $1.99 for a domain name 
Steve Dolan is a Web designer and builder with over 250 web sites built to date. One of the best combined registrar/host sites he has found is MyFastDomains.com It’s the site that handles all of his registrations and is a great Microsoft and Linux host too.