Here are simple steps:
1. Have your domain name registered at Yahoo.com. Why yahoo.com? Until end of this month, Yahoo.com offers first time domain registration through your Yahoo account, you are allowed to register a new domainname for just 1.99 USD for first year cycle. Use following keywords in Google: Yahoo Small business domain name 1.99 registration.
Then click on the link that connects to Yahoo.com's small business where you will see 9.99 striked out, and 1.99 USD is shown. Then, register your domain name.
Or, after June 30, 2007. You may go to
http://www.1and1.com/
Why? OneAndOne.com is one of the most reliable hosting company. It regularly appears in PC World and PC Magazine. I switched from GoDaddy.com to 1and1.com because of their ad appeared in PC World/ PC Magazine. My one year experience is that this is excellent hosting company.
2. So, set your account at 1and1.com . It does not have to be very expensive account. It can be simple: beginner's account. They offered me at 2.47 USD per month. but, they increased recently. Still that is a good deal. Well, if you register domain at GoDaddy.com, then they offer you 35% discount for webhosting cost if you try to capture this offer within 24 hours. You just call them over phone, they can give you even more discounts. GoDaddy's customer service is best in the world. That is my observation. Just be nice, and try to negotiate.
Both of them offer you domain name renewal at very low price or free of charge.
3. Great thing with 1and1.com is that they recently introduced that they offer content management systems (like Joomla and Drupal, both were tied in last year's competition among free CMS softwares) included in their account. Long time ago, 1and1.com offered WordPress in their beginner's hosting account. How is word press, it is world's number one Blog management software, and one example is the popular Nepali Language based blog site run by Umesh Shrestha who is a journalist, and now in Korea for a short visit. You may go to
http://www.mysansar.com/ ,
you can also visit my AuctionNepal website which is at this moment based on the 1and1.com's hosting account:
http://www.AuxN.com/ .You don't have to do much things in such freely available CMS , just login and start using it by creating your login address.
4. If you don't like such free CMS included in your hosting package, then you can choose to have Linux based (unix) hosting. Do not select FrontPage based, it is not that popular as compared to Linux based. In Frontpage or Window based stuffs, you have to use ASP language, and you may have trouble getting better freely available CMS as compared to Linux. It up to you. I prefer Linux based, and it uses PHP language in their softwares. You will be given several MySQL database accounts, and PHP activated software installation TELNET accounts.
5. Install FileZilla software for uploading and downloading your softwares on and off your computer to internet or your hosting account. Set up your account.
6. Go to Joomla.org, or Drupal.org (Drupal is scandinavian word meaning village). Download their software. Read instructions. You can do it. Last year, in world competition, Joomla CMS and Drupal CMS have a tie in final, and in tie breaking voting, Drupal lost. The reason is that Drupal is more like MS Window, and Joomla is like iMac. I hope you got what I mean. Drupal is excellent in extension, and handling for those who know PHP, and Joomla is good for those commoners who don't understand programming jargon. I like both. In my
http://www.Geotech.Net/ and
http://www.pokhara.com/, I used Drupal. I love Drupal, and I like Joomla. I have both type in my websites. I want to know both, and keep tracking. Both are free of charge.
7. You are ready to go ahead with configuration. Configure intelligently to avoid spam. Do not forget to set: "Registration is necessary. Registered users need to get approval for first time posting". Why? Have you ever notice these Vi'gra to Ciaaaalis spammers, they have developed such software that they can automatically post, and ruin your website with unwanted stuffs. You must get rid of them from beginning.
Here you go!!!! Good Luck.