I need to get a domain name so I can publish a simple website for my business.

I don't know quite what this means or what it entails. I am told that it is simple to do. Any advice would be welcome.

I will be using iWeb to produce the site.

CC

Any hostingn provider will happily sell you a domain. It's a quick and simple process, and just involves filling out a few details on their website and paying them.

Where are you going to host the site? If you are going to open a hosting account then a lot of the big players will give you a free domain.

When you register a domain, you will have to hand over contact information including an address. This is public information, so if you are not comfortable with this I would suggest going with an ISP who will hide it for you - what happens is they make their details publicly available, and should anyone contact them about the domain they will pass the message on. But nobody will contact you about it lol

Some of the major players:

123reg.co.uk
1and1.co.uk
godaddy.com
dreamhost.com
heartinternet.com

and literally countless others.

It doessn't really matter which company you choose - the domain will still be registered with the same authority.

p.s. Internet forum?

Do you have iDisk storage? If so just use that for hosting and register the name then point it to your iDisk.
It's exactly what I do with my scifigeek site.

Mark

personally I use UH hosting, any problems sorted quickley and you get to deal with a real person who actually has access to the servers and systems, usually a guy called James.

just my 2 cents worth

I have recently bought Mobile Me so yes I have iDisk.

Any suggestions as to who to register with?

Check to see which domain names are available HERE

you could pre-order for the new .CO

I would go with whoever is cheapest out of the big players. It's not like hosting, where different ISPs perform differently. They will all register it with the same authority.

Do you know how to setup the domain to point to Apple?

I've used 123-reg.co.uk for all my domain names and I haven't had a problem.
There's a part of the user control panel which indicates where you want to point the name to.
It's all very easy.

Mark

it's true domain names are a better bet with generally anyone but please please please do not go 1and1 they have terrible support services. I have used 123-reg for clients and they have been happy with the control panel easy to use.

+1

I use Dreamhosts for my domain name reg and the hosting.
Referral linky here Clicky

I have now got my domain name via 123-reg.

£6 for two years. That won't break the bank.

Now all I have to do is wait for a day whilst they do the techy stuff and I will be in business.

This is useful for checking that the changes have been made and replicatedhttp://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/

Excellent

Are you going to share the URL?