Registering a domain name
After you find an available domain name to use, you need to register it. (See the previous section, “Finding out if your domain name is available,” to find a domain name.) You can use a similar process to the one below to register a domain name with any domain registrar.
Having a domain name is only half the equation in creating the Web site. If you aren’t using a hosted blog solution, you also need to arrange Web hosting.
A Web hosting company maintains computers (usually quite a few) on which the pages of your Web site live. When you register your domain, you tell the registrar which Web host you are using. Then, when someone wants to visit your Web site, the registrar tells that visitor’s browser which com¬puter the pages live on. If you think about the domain name as an address, a Web host is the actual house that sits at that address — that is, the actual pages of your Web site.
The variations between Web hosts and their technical options and pricing are endless. Don’t make the mistake of simply buying the cheapest solution, however! Blog software packages often have some specific technical requirements in order to run, and you need to make sure that your Web host can handle them before you buy. And if you need technical assistance, the cheapest solution may not have the best customer service.
Choose a blog software package and then contact the Web hosting companies you want to use. Ask them specifically if they support that package. Even better, ask them to refer you to a customer of theirs that is currently using the software. You can’t get better evidence of software and Web hosting compatibility than seeing it in action!
Don’t confuse a hosted blog solution with Web hosting — they are not the same. A hosted blog is a blog that lives on another company’s server. Your postings, photographs, comments, and pages are all created by their software and stay on their server.
Web hosting is necessary for every Web site. A hosted blog solution includes Web hosting as part of the whole package, but Web hosting almost never includes blogging software. A hosted blog provider doesn’t also include things you get from Web hosting — such as e-mail forwarding, an FTP site, or traffic logs. If you choose an independent blog software package, you don’t get Web hosting, only the software, so you still need a host where you can install that software.
There are some blog companies that have also begun to offer Web hosting, and these can be a good option for an all-in-one package that guarantees server and software will be a match. Wordpress and Movable Type are two examples of blogging companies that also offer hosting.