domain names, hosting, say what?

Hi there,

I know absolutely nothing about actually getting a website up and running beyond registering myself a geocities page about a million years ago.

I have a domain name i'd like to register, but i noticed there are huge differences in prices between places like dottster, godaddy, domain.com, etc. how do you know which is best?

I'm just looking to register the name for now and later to put up the website for a business. Do you have to host with the person you registered the domain name with?/ what IS hosting anyhow?

If you register a domain name with someone and then find out you need more than your getting or something can you switch who you're registered with? if that makes sense?

i tried to kind of figure some things out but me + technology = bad, bad, bad.


thanks for any info!

The host is where the actual pages sit, and doesn't technically have anything to do with where the domain name is registered (case in point: me - I just registered the domain name and host the site myself, something that isn't possible or desirable for everyone). The easiest solution would be to register an account where you get both a hosting solution and a domain name, but what you get in easyness you may lose in flexibility, that is, you may not be able to switch host and keep the same registrar (so you may have to cancel both the domain name and hosting, then get both again - possibly at separate places - if you want to switch hosts).