Sadly, I've never seen a novice-friendly resource that wasn't an advertisement for some service, a message board full of "OMG TEH KIDZ U SUK," or a poorly-written and unresearched hideous jumble of words. So, what say we make a decent resource here?

Pardon me if I dumb it down a little too much, I just want to make sure I don't make assumptions for you or any other reader; I'd rather not leave someone in the dark due to glossing over what may seem like "duh" details to a more experienced user.

Getting a Domain
First, let's understand the purpose behind a domain name. A server (or group of servers acting as one) hosts a web page. A web page is simply a text file that is interpreted by a browser to display the text in a gussied-up, graphical fashion. The advent of image references and text formatting paved the way for the graphical web we have today. At the heart of it though, it's still a fancy text file. So, to get said text file, you point your browser at the server that is offering up these files to anyone who may want them. A popular way (protocol) that computers communicate (and the one used by the web) is called TCP/IP, and this is essentially accomplished by each computer having an address on the global network -- its IP address. Initially, one accessed these text files offered up by another computer by entering in an IP address and requesting the file by name. But, it's messy and nerdy to have to type in a long numerical address when one desires to view a server's files.

Enter the Domain Name System. Rather than having to type in the IP address of the machine, a conceptual layer was placed on top of the IP-addressing system in which people could provide a more human-readable, text-based name for their server. The DNS system is now a distributed network of servers that contain the same information, for redundancy's sake. The DNS list is simply a collection of Domain names and the corresponding IP of the server to which it's registered. Therefore, when you point your browser at "www.gamerswithjobs.com," the browser makes a request to a DNS server, finds out what IP that domain is registered to, and then fetches files from that server.

All of the domain registrars you've heard about essentially do the exact same thing: They register a domain name of your choosing with this global DNS system and charge you a fee for the privilege. They all have cut a deal with ICANN (the organization responsible for maintaining this large list) to be brokers for the registration of these domain names. They pay a fee to ICANN to be brokers. So, why does Network Solutions charge more than GoDaddy? Because they want more of your money. Go with the lowest-priced, legitimate registrar you can find. Personally, I've always used GoDaddy. They make it easy, quick, and cheap. Though in recent years they've deviated from what made them successful, in the name of wringing more money out of their customers. Each domain registration is now accompanied by gobs of upsells, worded with convoluted and/or scare-tactic language.

When you purchase a domain name, you are reserving a spot for that name in the global registry. The global registry not only records the server to which the domain name should point, but also information about the registrant; such as name, phone number, address, etc. This is simply a requirement of ICANN and has no bearing on how the system actually works. Bear in mind that this information is public record, and can be accessed by anyone. ICANN frowns on falsified information, but it's nearly impossible to police the whole system.

Anyway, when you purchase the domain name, the final step in the process is to "tell" the DNS registry what server hosts your website; that is, what server IP should answer to the domain name you've registered. How this accomplished with each registrar is, of course, different. Any registrar worth its salt should make it easy for you, though, as that's their sole purpose in the process.

Creating Your Site
I won't get into authoring a site here, as this is the area where there are actually tons of helpful tutorials out there. There are as many ways to create your fancy text files as there are sites out there.

Hosting Your Site
It is technically possible to host a website on any computer connected to the Internet. So, what makes a "web server" machine different? Not much, except that its hardware need are tailored for one explicit purpose (serving up fancy text files... fast!), and they run web server software. What is web server software? It's a program that runs on the computer that listens and responds. When you point your web browser at a site, you are requesting a fancy text file from that server. That server is listening for requests of that kind, and answers by sending back the fancy text file the remote user requested. That's the process, in a nutshell. (Yes, there are many other things out there beyond this scope, but at the end of the day it's simply request -> respond.)

The two most widely-used web servers are IIS (Internet Information Services - made by Microsoft and run on only Windows) and Apache (runs on just about any operating system). There are differences in they way they do things, but the bottom line is they listen for requests and respond with fancy text files. So, why not just install a web server on your home computer and host a site from your den? You can, but there are some obstacles.

We've established that each computer on the internet has an IP address; it's what allows them to communicate with every other computer. An IP address is simply a unique numerical number, in the form xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. That is, 4 blocks of 3 numbers, separated by a period. For purposes we won't get into here, each of the four numbers must be between 0 and 255. Anyway, to the point: Based upon this standard, there are a fixed number of possible IP addresses in existence. Early on in the creation of this global network we call the Internet, large swaths of these IP addresses were given by gub'-ment to various entities; many of them ISP's. At one time, there were so many addresses available that the government gave them away with reckless abandon to anyone who requested them. Nowadays, just about all addresses are spoken for. When you pay an ISP for internet access, they therefore give your computer a unique IP address on this global network, allowing you to communicate with all other computers on the global network. These companies, however, have come to the realization that their limited pool of available addresses could mean a possible shortage. Buying new IP addresses from current owners is expensive. They also realized that when you turn your computer off, it's no longer really using that IP they've given you. Therefore, systems like DHCP have been used to dole out a rotating pool of IP's to customers only when they need them, therefore providing a greater potential return on their money than the 1:1 computer-to-IP setup used before. This is called a Dynamic IP. Being permanently assigned an IP by your ISP and not using the revolving pool is called a Static IP.

So, why is it tough to host a website from your home computer? Just about any ISP these days makes use of Dynamic IP's for their home customers. This means that were you to register your domain name, and provide your current IP, there is no guarantee that tomorrow or next week, your computer's IP will be the same. Updating your server IP with ICANN takes time (for reasons we won't get into here), rendering the idea unfeasible. Work-arounds such as No-IPexist, but there are other issues too. Your home Cable/DSL line has a relatively small upload speed; that is, the ability of the connection to send out fancy text files is constrained by the rate of throughput. This is artificially set by your ISP to discourage the hosting of a site. Furthermore, the terms of service of many ISP's prohibit the hosting of a website from a consumer-level connection. Chalk that policy up to the almighty buck.

Countless numbers of companies exist whose sole business is hosting websites for customers. That is, they have machines in large data centers, connected to high-bandwidth connections, whose sole purpose is to pump out fancy text files on demand. Some hosting companies actually lease space on servers from other hosting companies, and so on. Therefore, if you pay to host your site with a hosting company, you set up your domain record to "point" at the hosting company's server. They'll tell you the IP to use. It's usually up to you to make that link.

Typically, there are a couple tiers of service that hosting companies offer. Dedicated hosting means that one customer pays to host their site on a server machine, and they're the only customer using that machine. One server-grade computer is all yours. And it's expensive. The plurality of sites out there (not the big guys) are hosted on sharedhosting accounts, meaning one server can actually provide hosting service for dozens, maybe hundreds of customers. This is a much more affordable setup, but can't handle the traffic (that is, flood of requests from many users) that a larger site may require. Most of the time, when we talk about hosting services around here, we talk about shared ones.

A large successful hosting service that some people around here use is Dreamhost. Some people have some complaints about them, some think it's great. I've used HostingZoom for a while now with minimal issue. Others can feel free to recommend their own. Beware of unestablished, fly-by-night hosting operations; it's easy and cheap to set one up by leasing space from another hosting company, but the profit margins are slim and these operations typically don't last long. The last thing you want is to lose your website files because your host ditches town, leaving you in the cold. Also make sure to read up on a potential host, to make sure their hosting machines are stable, not overburdened (a common problem with shared hosting), and are in a place that has a lot of bandwidth and low latency (the time between a request is sent by a user and the time the server receives it). These are all aspects of a quality host. As with any other service, the balance between low price and high quality is a tightrope walk.

Lastly, most domain registrars also offer hosting packages, to give you a one-stop shop for setting up your site. In my experience, their prices tend to be higher for hosting, since they make it easier for you. They're often capitalizing on laziness and/or ignorance. Some of them even treat their domain registration business as a loss leader to bring hosting business in the door. A little knowledge of the process lets you take advantage of the situation and save some money.

I hope my long-winded blathering has shed some light on the process. Apologies if I was too simplistic or condescending. I know others will find flaws in my descriptions, feel free to correct me or elaborate on a point I probably missed. Let me know if you have any questions or would like me to delve deeper into a particular subject. Longest. Post. Ever.

Awesome write-up, Bagga.

I've used bluehost for a few years now, and I've been pleased with them.

Bluehost was the host I'd actually been eying, so it's good to hear some positive feedback.

Bagga, that write-up was excellent. Question: How much of the ICANN services can be controlled without going through a provider?

I strongly recommend buying your domain name and hosting from different places. Some hosting providers will essentially hold the domain name hostage if you want to switch to someone else or are upset at you for any other reason (DMCA takedown notices, etc.).
I use Namecheap as my domain name registrar and Lunarpages.com as my host, and have been satisfied with both.

P.S. - Before buying hosting, search for coupons for your service provider! I was able to save about 40% off the normal cost for a year this way.

Generally if you ensure that you are listed as the administrative contact for the domain, that will limit the hosting companies ability to do much in the way of holding the domain hostage. Even if you ignore that though, its almost always going to cost more to register the domain with the web-hosting company then it will with someone like namecheap or godaddy.

It doesn't have to point anywhere. In GoDaddy's case, they put up a "this domain has been registered with GoDaddy!" page in the meantime. Most registrars do something to that effect. I say go with Stylez' company. He's not just a plant; he'll make sure you get good service

In order to move your domain registration to another registrar, a transfer is indeed in order. This is because a registration must be renewed every so often with ICANN, and again only brokers can do that. Because you must go through a broker and cannot deal with ICANN directly, transferring your account to another registrar is the only route. These registrars act on your behalf when dealing with ICANN. Many registrars offer a low price to entice you to transfer, so don't worry -- transferring isn't overly painful. Just make sure your personal information is up-to-date with your registration prior to initiating a transfer. They use that contact information to ensure you're not some scammer trying to steal the domain.

Ask as many questions as you like, you're not bothering me at all. I hope I've been of some help.

Thanks guys for all the great info. I'm going to go ahead and give your company a shot Stylez, if you disappoint, it'll have to come down to chainsaws

Of course it's easy to use, I wrote most of it