posted on Jul, 8 2005 @ 12:46 PM
From what I've seen, to get an actual www.domainname.com/org/biz/whatever domain, you do have to pay a fee. The running rate is generally about $35
per year, paid for two years up front. I think there's a lot of companies that somehow manage to sell it cheaper, but I don't know any of those
details.
The best bet to get a domain name set up is to get a hosting account with a decent company. Most hosts will handle all of the details associated with
that, and since you'll need somewhere to host it anyways, you've got that base covered.
I do strongly recommend going with a hosting company for this also. I know that it is possible to host a website from your own computer, but
it's generally a bad idea. If your site gets any traffic to speak of, then your average internet connection--even broadband--won't be able to
really handle it very well. Most ISP's also don't like the idea of people hosting from their own computers anyways, and might get you barred from
using their service--no more ATS and your site's down.