Another option is to use WordPress.com as your main Web site. If you go this route, you must perform an additional step: Have your registrar forward your domain to your Wordpress.com site, or have WordPress perform "domain mapping" for you (under this arrangement, WordPress takes control over the domain and redirects traffic accordingly). I have used both methods. Forwarding your domain from your registrar doesn't cost anything, but the domain mapping method is perhaps more professional; WordPress charges $10 (technically, $9.97) a year for the latter service. On its site, WordPress provides lots of additional .

WordPress has an active community of developers and thousands of plug-ins designed to extend the service's functionality. To deploy them, however, you need to run WordPress's software on your own virtual server at a separate hosting provider. The downside to self-hosted WordPress sites is that their support for streaming video is less capable than is the support at WordPress.com-hosted sites. That difference becomes especially significant if you intend for your site to house lots of video content.

Your next decision involves selecting a virtual private or managed server for your site. Many companies offer server space; for help in sorting them out, visit , a site that lets you easily compare plans and prices. Factors to consider (besides how much the service costs) include how much storage you can buy for your plan, whether you have to pay extra for e-mail and applications such as databases, and whether telephone support is included and available during off-hours or limited to workdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Should you run your Web site on Windows or on Linux? The differences aren't huge; and if you're running self-hosted WordPress, I recommend using Linux because you'll never have to deal with the raw Linux command line. But if you want to work with Microsoft tools in building and managing your site, use Windows.

Whichever provider you choose, you'll end up using its Web-based control panel to manage the server and any related programs running on it. The screenshot at left shows what GoDaddy's control panel look like.