Already said it on IRC, but still - if you don't want to customize much and are using HTML/WordPress then ThemeForest is your friend.

 

Arvixe is a great host. I've been using it for two years and have not had a single problem. It is only 4 dollars a month, plus it has excellent support. Your first domain is free, so you don't have to pay anything to get the website name you want. You will not have to deal with ANY ads (which all free hosting will have). I suggest buying your own site because no professional site should have ads and because once you buy it, you own that portion of the web and can do almost anything.

 

A Small Orange is pretty good for hosting. I've hosted several high-traffic WP blogs on their "Tiny" shared hosting package ($35/yr) with no trouble. They have excellent tech support, too. My mom uses HostGator for her WP site - they're not nearly as good a service, IMO, but she likes them.

GoDaddy on the other hand is an awful company no matter how you look at it. I use Namecheap myself.

 

You might also look into Joomla if you dont want to use WP. Its fairly diverse with what it offers and what you can do with it. Joomla's a bit more advanced I think, but still awesome.

Also: If you intend to do the theme/appearance image yourself, I'd recommend looking into Artiseer or Xara Web Design

 

Choose whichever paid host from the above suggestions or any with good reviews (I use stablehost). You should definitely pay the $5/mo charge. Don't skimp out on this. All these websites provide a control panel where installing word press or other software (content management stuff like Joomla) is painfully easy. You click a button, give a path and boom. It's done. All the configuration stuff is done through the software, no coding required.

Wordpress should not really be used for anything other than blogs. You are better off using a content management software like Joomla, Zikula, Drupal, etc. Since they're all open source, most of these paid hosting options will provide you with one-click install for them.

The only option you have for <$25 dollars a year of really good hosting and if you were using static web pages would be hosting your website on Amazon S3 but that's for more tech savvy people so I won't bother you with the details.

Here's what Stablehost provides in terms of Portal/CMS stuff I can install (Most of them). Note: most other hosting options should provide something similar as well.

 

Mostly this. That's not entirely true, of course, since WP does have plugins available to set up shopping carts for only transactions and what not. It is marketed as a blog, though.

Where as Joomla is pretty much an open slate. You can set up blogs with it, podcasts, video streaming, or (as in your case), web-stores. And, as said before, its got a fairly wide range of plugins that are fairly simple to install, setup, and run. Joomla, in its self, is free, but there are also a lot of devs that charge for plugins for it too, for one reason or another.

Either, with whatever you decide you're gonna run it on, you're gonna wanna make sure whatever host you pick up has all of it's (joomla in this example) requirements. Just about all of them will have something close to it, so do make sure you verify version numbers from host to desired software. PHP 5.3 can run anything 5.2.4 can run, but not the other way round.

 

I'll second this. Stay the heck away from GoDaddy. They're notoriously bad.

 

I use Wordpress and pay $18 p/year for domain name. I like how simple it is, while still having room to include multiple tabs and, at some point in the future, a store:

www.joeducie.net

 

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that if you plan on doing any sales online, there are extra fees to be able to handle credit cards and a dedicated SSL cert.

 

Third.

Namecheap.com and Name.com are far better.

 

Hostgator isn't "bad", its just not as good as a lot of other options out there, like the ones many have listed in this thread.

Second, if you have time and are interested, try learning some basic HTML and CSS. It is very easy. And if you need just a 4 page site it won't take you long to make one yourself. You can start with something basic and improve it as you learn more.

I have not tried it personally but I hear that this is a good place to start.

Also, while most hosts provide a 60 day money-back, if you want you should pay for just one month at the start and if you like it renew for 1 or 2 years.

 

It's probably pretty obvious but I thought to point out two things.

First, you talked about search so make *really* sure the SEO of whatever you choose is decent.

Second, make sure social sharing is easy on said platform/hosting/etc. If it's a business, it doesn't matter imo whether you think it's stupid - unless you're Cartier tweet/pin like your life depends upon it.

 

Yes it does in select situations. So do some pre-made themes (but my knowledge is incomplete there so I'll defer to those who know better).

Edit: Don't know how reliable it is, but here's an article talking about hosting's effects on SEO.