It will all seem very confusing at first because there are a lot of little pieces to put together.

One of the first things you will probably want is a domain name so that your site shows up as "www.yourname.com" rather than something more generic like, "www.bigcompany.com/yourname.html." This makes it easier for people to remember how to find your page. It also means you can have an email address going to your own domain name, like, "chris@yourname.com" or "sales@yourname.com."

The second thing you need is hosting. You can think of the domain as your address, and the hosting as the lot where you will build your house, with the website itself being the house. It's easier to get all of these things from one place, and you can get them all from me right on this site, but it's useful to realize they are all independent of one another.

The rest of this FAQ will go into things in more detail, but to get started, all you need is a domain name, hosting, and some idea of what you want on your website.

A domain name is a unique identifier of your site. You choose it yourself, and it has to be something that no one else has picked yet. So the first step is to search to be sure the name you want is available. My hosting page has a search tool for this purpose, right at the top.

An important thing to remember when choosing your domain name is to make it something very easy for people to remember and type in correctly. If possible, avoid using unexpected characters like dashes or capital letters. If your chosen name has several words in it, just put them all together, as this is what most people will expect. For example, www.mycoolsite.com is a better choice than www.my-cool-site.com or www.MyCoolSite.com.

Domain names are only $8 per year for .com, .net, and many other common extensions on my site. This makes it affordable if you choose to purchase several names. There are a couple of reasons why you might want to do this. You may wish to keep other people from buying names similar to your own, so they cannot take visitors away from you either accidentally or on purpose.

Another reason you might wish to purchase several similar names is to increase your traffic--if a visitor types in .com or .net, they'll still find you.

A third reason is to allow you to test out different marketing strategies, see what works. Some businesses will set up several similar sites with different names, and market them differently, and see where they get the most success.

Once you've found a domain name that is available, the tool on the hosting page will guide you through purchasing it. However, if you are planning to also host your site with me, go ahead and get your hosting first, because if you select any plan higher than the Personal one, you can have a free domain name along with it.

There are so many extensions available, it can be confusing. For most businesses, large and small, .com is your best bet. If the name you want is available as a .com, it's best to go ahead and buy it quickly. If you have a non-profit or other charitable institution, then .org is appropriate. For a school, it might be .edu. If you wish to know more about these and many other options, here is a wiki that discusses them.

Remember, you are not limited to one domain name, and buying some variations on yours is often a good idea.

I offer four levels of hosting. If you want to host one domain name, and have a very simple informational site, then the Personal plan will probably work for you. It comes with plenty of space, and you will be able to have emails with your own domain name. I can create your site for you, or you can move an existing site here. If you don't want to have me or another designer write your site, you may wish to purchase a Templates which will take care of the design part for you.

You'll need one of the bigger plans, though, if you want to have a content management site (a site you can edit yourself even if you don't know any HTML) or you know you need a database, or you want to host more than one domain. In that case, my Business class plan will probably work for you.

If you want something bigger, especially if you want to be your own hosting company, then check out my Corporate and Enterprise plans.

You need to change your DNS information with your registrar--whoever you purchased your domain name from. I'll explain how to do this, but if you would rather have me do it for you, just email me at miranda at antheliadesigns dot com. If I'm designing a website for you, it's part of the service. If you already have a site or are purchasing a template, the fee is $20(US), and I will need the information outlined below.

First of all, be completely certain that you are ready to do this. If you already have a site that is up and functioning, and you are still building a new site on our servers, and the new site is not yet ready, you are not ready to change your DNS information. Or, suppose you don't have a site yet, but are in process of building one. Do you want people to be able to go see your site as it's being built? Probably not. Only change your DNS when you're ready to have people see the site.

When you order your hosting, you will receive an email with some important information, including the DNS (Domain Name Server.) You will also need to have the log in information for the site where you bought your domain name. (If you are getting a domain name from me along with your hosting, you will not need to do this for the new domain name, only the one you already have from elsewhere.)

Go to your domain registrar's site, log in, and look for a tab that says something like "Edit DNS" or "Nameservers," or something similar. If it says something about nameservers, that's probably it. Every registrar sets this up a little differently, so I can't tell you exactly where to find this. You are looking for a page that has a number of boxes, and in at least two of the boxes, there should be something that looks similar to "DNS1.NAMESERVER.COM." It probably says something different, but there will be at least two of them, it will probably all be in capital letters, and it will start with either DNS or NS. This is what you will be replacing with the information you received from my hosting department.

All you need to do is place the complete first nameserver name in the first box and the second in the second. You can just copy and paste it to be sure it's accurate. It doesn't have to be in capitals--the site will change that for you. Click OK, and then keep clicking OK through all the warning windows that tell you not to do this. It is perfectly okay to change your DNS information, as long as you are sure you're ready to do so.