A great first step to getting a website up and running is to choose your domain name.
Here are a couple of great articles to help
How to Select a Great Domain Name for Your Company by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson Web Marketing Today – Feb 17, 2009
Once you have something in mind, you need to check that it does not belong to someone else. Check the domain name commission. When you have found something you like, that does not belong to anyone else, then you need to register it. I use KiwiWebHost to register my domain names and also for my web hosting. Registering a domain name has an annual cost of about $40 a year for .co.nz domain names.
A domain name is a little like owning a personalised number plate . Then one has to “host” the registration ie put your licence plate somewhere – buying the car: Putting the domain name (licence plate) onto the files (the car). This is called the “hosting ” ie the space for the the files. You have to pay to have your files somewhere and then the name is added to the files. Hosting plans vary, I use $1 a week hosting from KiwiWebHost with additional web space. The $1 a week comes with 10MB but you will need about 40MB. SO purchase an additional 30MB at $3 a month or $36 + GST.