This is a beginner guide for those who are interested to have their own website, whether it is for personal or business use.

First of all, you'll need to register for a domain name. This domain name aka URL is the "address" where your visitor will enter it in the web browser . You need to search the domain name and check whether it is already taken.

Web hosting is where you upload / create the files for your web site and store it to the server. It is recommended to register a domain name with the same web hosting company to avoid complicated setup settings.

If you already have a domain name, you can register for a web hosting plan now. You'll be provided with a new DNS settings, so your domain name will point to the web hosting server to retrieve your web site files.

Some web hosting plan offers free tools for you to start building a web page immediately (no HTML programming skills are required).

Have fun, and be proud of owning your own online web site.

One more thing. A newly registered domain name eg www.yourdomain.com will take from 2 to 48 hours to propagate before you'll be able to access it.

Some web hosts offer a temporary URL where you can view your newly built web site while waiting for the new domain name to propagate.

It is recommended to register a domain name with the same web hosting company to avoid complicated setup settings.


My opinion is that I'd register the domain name with a well-known domain registrar such as enom or godaddy or namecheap.

I'd buy hosting separately from a quality hosting company.

There are no complicated "setup settings" involved. You simply go to your registrar's account and point the domain at the server address your host provides you with.

The reason I'd keep the two separate is the horror stories I've heard from some people who have bought a domain and hosting from the same company. When they have tried to move the domain to a different host (because they were getting a poor hosting service) they have run into obstruction with regard to moving the domain name/getting it pointed towards the new host's servers.

[quote=atthescreen]My opinion is that I'd register the domain name with a well-known domain registrar such as enom or godaddy or namecheap.

I'd buy hosting separately from a quality hosting company.

/quote]


I'd also do it, i'm just thinking about the best domain name for nmy project.
wegaonline, what setup complications do you mean? Is there anything else a noob like me should know?

Good Day!

I have a hosting account with godaddy (www.mindanao-online.net (http://www.mindanao-online.net/)) which
i'm using for my forum.. My domain which is www.mindanao-online.com (http://www.mindanao-online.com/) is also registered through them. Now, i made another site under
www.mindanao-online.com/foreverlovers (http://www.mindanao-online.com/foreverlovers) and then i purchased a new domain still with godaddy (www.seangracie.net (http://www.seangracie.net/)).

I then set my domain settings for seangracie.net so it will forward
www.mindanao-online.com/foreverlovers (http://www.mindanao-online.com/foreverlovers) since that is where my site was
saved, and i also turned the masking "ON".

My problem is, when i go to different pages inside my site like the
gallery, guestbook etc, the URL will always remain www.seangracie.net (http://www.seangracie.net/)
instead of www.seangracie.net/gallery.php (http://www.seangracie.net/gallery.php) or
www.seangracie.net/guestbook.php (http://www.seangracie.net/guestbook.php) depending on which page i go into.

What should i do with this? Please advise.. I'm new to this stuff and need all the help i could get.. Thanks!