Boggs here... I have to get serious about getting a domain and website set up for my band. The domain name I have in mind is available. To build a site with e-mail and a guestbook (although I could use my business e-mail) would be desirable as well as to easily update play dates. Gig photos would need to be easily "postable." There is yahoo and google and GoDaddy and there are others, I'm sure. What/how would you more knowledgable folks go about it? I really need to get in gear without breaking the bank. Thanks in advance...

Next question... Since I already have a hosting site that I am reasonably familiar with and to avoid further payments, could I just purchase the domain name elsewhere and point the domain to a page I could build on my existing site? The web page that way would not cost any more than I am paying now... I have heard a lot of good things about (with the highest number of recommendations by a significant margin) to GoDaddy.com... Thoughts?

If you already have web hosting, you can buy the domain name and attach it to your existing server. Your current hosting company should be able to help you out with that.

As to web hosting, my wife swears by HostRocket.

I know I'm getting in on this a bit late. But I've used several hosting companies and I'd say first of all, it depends on if you want something with a site builder that you can use to create your pages, or if you're going to develope it yourself using something like Flash, .NET, etc. There are lots of cheap hosting sites using php, etc. For me, I'm a windows guy and want to be able to develop my own site. I've been happiest with HostMySite.com. They aren't the cheapest, but they are pretty reasonable (I think around $12/month for a .NET site with a database, plenty of space, bandwidth and email accounts). If you buy a year at a time, they include domain name registration at no extra charge. The thing I like about them is that the customer service is EXCELLENT. Downtime is minimal and if you ever have an issue you can always get an actual person on the phone and they'll take care of you right away - they're great. You can get hosting services as cheap as a few bucks a month for a php/mySQL site on a Linux server, but I've had really bad experience with teh support and uptime. That's what our band site is on now, but when I get around to it, I'm going to redo it in .NET and switch over to HostMySite.

I have always used GoDaddy.com and had the best service for a cheap price. They have all the things you need. I have used them for 2 separate bands and never had any problems.

GoDaddy is terrible, slow servers, nonexistent support and a lot of downtime.

We've gone through the gambit, and the hands down winner in hosting is bluehost.com. They have one plan, not tiered plans, so everyone is treated equal. They have blazing fast servers, and basically no downtime. Their support is available 24/7/365 live online or by phone, yes thats right talk to an actual human!!!!

Unlimited file transfers, hosting space and domain names. (Host multiple unique URL domains through one account.) 2500 e-mail addresses.

$100/yr.

Hands down the best bang for the buck hosting company out there.

I strongly recommend against BlueHost. Here's an example of their "quality." A friend and colleague started a managed hosted services company a few years ago precisely because of that sort of mismanagement and poor service which are all-too-frequent in the web services business.

Since most of you probably don't have sophisticated requirements, I'd suggest going with a service that's affordable and accessible. If they give you any guff though, fire 'em. (I worked with about 20 vendors prior to settling with my friend's company. Lesson: watch out for incompetence and don't let yourself be jerked around.)