Getting Your Website Started December 2, 2016
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  1. Register a domain name. Your domain name is how people find your site. It should be relatively short, memorable and easy to spell. (You don’t need to include the ‘www’ in your domain, by the way)
    1. This will cost anywhere from $3-$20 per year. Discounts are typical for multi-year agreements. Renewal is usually less than the initial registration.
  2. Purchase website hosting. Hosting is the disk space where your files are kept that can be seen by the public. If you are going to be using WordPress, many hosts are now offering WordPress specific hosting plans — make sure you understand what you are getting before you buy (for example, GoDaddy’s WordPress hosting does not include email (you@yourdomain.com)).
    1. Some web hosts offer a choice between Unix and Windows. It does not matter which, both are fine.
    2. Hosting will cost $4-16 per month, with discounts typical for sign-on or multiple year agreements.
  3. If you are going to be charging credit cards or accepting payments from your site, you will also need to purchase an SSL certificate (this is what allows your site to be served on secure https instead of regular http)
    1. SSL certificates cost about $60 per year.
    2. Or, consider an all-in-one service, such as Shopify, which will provide the hosting and credit card acceptance
  4. That’s it, you are ready to start developing your site!