Recently I received a question from a friend who wants to create a web site for a new product. She said, "I’m thinking I should register the name at least. Could you tell me how to do that? There was no site for it when I did a search, but I don’t exactly know where to really look."
When you want to put up a Web site, the first thing you need is a name (called a "domain"). A Web address like www.yourdomain.com needs to be purchased through a domain registrar. In the past, this was an expensive proposition mostly because there was only one registrar.
These days it’s extremely easy and MUCH less expensive than it used to be. My favorite registrar is Go Daddy (http://www.godaddy.com). Their customer service is very good and it costs about $8.00 to register a name for a year.
When you go to the site, just type in the name you want and they’ll tell you if it’s taken. They’ll offer alternative names along with the .com suffix, such as .net or .org. If the name you want is available, then you can just follow the steps to register it. Be sure to use a reliable, working e-mail address for the contact because they use e-mail to confirm the purchase.
When you register a domain with Go Daddy, you get a "parked page" which is just a temporary page that says you own the domain. To put up a site, you need to find a hosting company and pay a separate monthly fee for them to host your site. Then you can put up your pages in the space they provide and give the registrar the new information about your site.