1) First you need to seriously study how to research and choose a domain name to register, considering all the relevant factors and your marketing and promotion plan.

2) The next step is to talk to a good web designer or webmaster because you will need some help occasionally, even if you choose to use a website template and keep it almost unchanged. Most web site templates need some customization and a good website designer can help you avoid poorly-coded templates (most are bad). The web designer can help you verify or choose a better domain name registration company (domain registrar).

3) See How to Choose a Hosting Company to pick a good site host: Avoid using a hosting company as a domain registrar (who is usually a reseller, not a primary registrar) and who suggests using their "web site generator". Avoid website generators or WYSIWYG, "what you see is what you get" site editors except for a rough initial draft. Unusual or "artistic" design-from-scratch sites seldom do as well as tested proven designs with fairly standard navigation. Remember you are building a web business, NOT a personal artistic creation.

4) After you read How to Choose a domain name, you will be ready to research names using a domain registration company's domain name search function. Choose a domain main name (or two) to research what names are available using the domain registrar's domain name search tool.

5) Preferable to a small reseller, the major registrar should be a fairly strong independent domain registration company in business over a year, with medium rates, not super cheap, but low-medium to medium pricing. Avoid registering with a small reseller, like a hosting company who just subcontracts that out or does "private label". Big hosting companies try to do that sometimes so they can get new site owners early. We prefer the specialist type registrar. Network Solutions, the oldest large firm in the business was very expensive and at least to us they have seemed unresponsive or slow to respond, like a big corporation. But they have improved lately.

6) Once you have done a preliminary screening as above and asked your web designer who might be good, then shop around the domain name registration rating sites which rank or screen the better or top hosting and domain registration companies. Based on all that, and your own testing and comfort with the domain registrar's web site, choose your favorite registrar. Be sure your web developer or designer is comfortable with that registrar.

7) It might be a good idea to choose two registrars if you are going to register four or more web site names, so you can have a quick alternate if you decide to move, you will also have seen the domain name transfer tools. But normally, all the web sites will be at one registrar so you can keep track of all of them more easily.

8) Once you have selected a name and registered it and talked to a web designer and done some basics of planning your site and marketing and promotion plan-strategy, you should be doing the same kind of process above to choose a hosting company. You should be careful and read how to choose a hosting company before you actually consult web hosting ratings and hosting screening and ranking sites.

The experience of your web designer should be weighted at least as high as hosting rating sites. We believe the best ratings of hosting companies are by the people who work with them every day, webmasters and website designers. Take a look at the "Website Designers' Choice Top Hosting Companies". The list is not long.

Consider registering your domain at your hosting company. Some hosting companies offer free registration as long as you keep your site on that host. Just shop more carefully when you do it that way. A good combined registrar and host is Lunar Pages (See banner upper right this page). GoDaddy is good hosting, we feel not the best, but an excellent Domain Name Registrar, as is CheapDomain-Registration.com .(goes through GoDaddy).

Avoid hosting your site at some fly-by-nite or a friend's or acquaintance's server. The security issues and volume and support issues demand a major hosting company with serious technical support, direct fiber "backbone" access, and years in business.

9) Once you sign up for a hosted site, you receive all the directions by secure email, telling you how to point your domain to your website. First of course, you have to install a homepage (index.html). Talk to your designer before putting your site in some sub-domain of some blogging service or other major mistake. Be sure to study proper web site design tips and web business success tips first, to get your first home page to almost what you hope to have later as far as basic content and keywords. That will help your site propagate. But don't expect any or much traffic if you do not do proper traffic promotion of your website. Proper website promotion is a science which must be combined with excellent business and web strategies.

Good Luck