web hosting recommendation...

[BAD HIDE]

I use ipage.com. It's like 3.50 a month, unlimited everything, $10 domains. They have online tools, but I just use Dreamweaver to build my websites. I'm not a web pro, but a few hours a week and being able to do basic stuff myself is worth it. I'm still building up inventory and content before the whole thing goes 100% and I start promoting it. Cool thing is I piggybacked my tattoo and art site right on the same bandwidth with another domain.

[CitizenKate]

Here are a couple of additional tips for people shopping for a web host and other web services.

As it was mentioned earlier, you can register a domain name in a number of places that are perfectly fine, including through whatever web host you go with, and it shouldn't be more than around $10/year.

One thing to make sure of, is that the domain name is registered in your name. If you get your domain name through your web host, some web hosts register the domain names in their own name, and if for any reason you should want to move your site to another web host, good luck getting to keep your domain name. I've had a couple of clients in the past year who have run into problems migrating their sites to a different host, and the old host played hardball with their domain names.

Also, make sure they send you the account information to get into the control panel for your domain name, even if you don't know what to do with it, and keep it in a safe place.

How to find out who your domain name is really registered to? Go to Better Whois and type in your domain name. If the "Registrant Contact" for your domain name is anyone other than you, contact whoever you registered your domain name through and get them to update the record with your contact information.

If you are planning to hire someone to build your site, and you haven't already chosen a web host, check to see what hosting your web studio may offer. Many studios offer hosting in support of their web design/development services, and that makes it pretty convenient for people who don't want to have to mess with that aspect of it. However, if you have already chosen a web host, most web studios should be able to work with just about any host that offers the standard array of programming support that you typically get these days.

Kate