Last night I purchased hosting and domain from Blue Host. $3.95/month.
I "researched" and this one was rated very well in many categories. Not until it came time to pay did I know you had to purchase 3 years at once. Must have been somewhere in the VERY tiny print. The rating boasted "free site builder". Doesn't that mean I can create my web site from their site? Well, you cant. I called the cust. Service number and was told I should go to Kompozer.net or free html templates.com.

I go to kompozer and download. Then my computer says it can not open the file, that it is invalid.

I go to free html templates and I get listings of many free web site options. I went to MANY sites and all of them are free web site building WITH hosting. I have to pay before I can go any further.

Even when I go to my Microsoft publishing, and choose a template, I have to pay something.

Please don't laugh, I'm an old dog with a new trick and I am muddeling my way through. Don't know what half the stuff I read even means. I just want to create a web site for my business that is easy to do, and I'm not ask to pay, pay, pay.

By the way, I wasted several domain options because they required of me on these "free" sites to come up with one as the first step. As I got further down the steps, I realized that I did not want to go on with this. When I tried again on a diff site, the domain I attempted before "is taken". Yeah, taken by me... before I realized I didn't like the site I was on.

How to I build a simple web site? About 8 pages, with the least amount of confusion, money, and aggravation. Did I make a mistake going with Blue Host?

What's a poor girl to do?? :confused:

I'll be watching your question Cozyk. I too have the same question. Good Luck. Oh, if you find the answer some where else, can you post it here for all to see? Thanks... ntalon

Sorry you had such a difficult time. If you are such a novice and confused, it may be better for you to hire a web designer to build your site for you. Ill be happy to help you with that if you would like.

I also use 1and1.com. They offer free templates and are relatively easy to navigate. However, like "ALL TEMPLATES" there are certain aspects of the layout that you are unable to change. The basic items colors, logo, text size, etc. are easy to change. You can also play with the web builder for free. Here are the steps to play:

• Go to
  • Go to 1and1.com
  • Click Web Hosting
  • In left hand column - under Site Builder, click 1&1 WebsiteBuilder
    a box will open
  • Click Try Demo for Free
• Click Web Hosting
• In left hand column - under Site Builder, click 1&1 WebsiteBuilder
  A box will open
• Click Try Demo for Free

Also, check back with Blue Host. A lot of the hosting companies will refund all your money if you cancel within 30 days.

First on the domain names. If a domain name is listed as taken that means someone registered it. Therefore you own the rights to that name. You DID not have to create a new domain, you simply tell the host that you have a domain already registered that you want to use.

What do you want your website to do? If its simple, then you can use any of a number of authoring tools to create the site, including MS Publisher (I don't have a clue why you would have to p[ay to upload an MS Pub authored page to a site you are already paying hosting for. But if its more complex you may want to hire a designer.

Since you entered into a contract with Blue Host for 3 years, I would try to make them work for. I would ask their tech support how to upload pages creatred in Publisher to your site. Generally this is done through FTP.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

First on the domain names. If a domain name is listed as taken that means someone registered it. Therefore you own the rights to that name. You DID not have to create a new domain, you simply tell the host that you have a domain already registered that you want to use.

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When I tried another site that was supposed to be free, it was a fill in the blanks kind of thing. When I put in my first choice domain name, it would come back with "already taken". Then there was no place to argue, that it was ME. It's not like I was conversing with someone. The site would not allow me to proceed until I put in a different domain name.

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What do you want your website to do? If its simple, then you can use any of a number of authoring tools to create the site, including MS Publisher (I don't have a clue why you would have to p[ay to upload an MS Pub authored page to a site you are already paying hosting for. But if its more complex you may want to hire a designer.

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I want a pretty simple web site. My daughter says she can do it for me when I get my text together, etc. But I wanted to try on a few "dresses" before I decided which look I wanted. Now I know there is a site with a "demo option" I'm going to try that. I love the "design process" In face that is what my site will be about. I stage homes, organize, homes, and do something called interior REdesign. New design, old stuff.

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Since you entered into a contract with Blue Host for 3 years, I would try to make them work for. I would ask their tech support how to upload pages creatred in Publisher to your site. Generally this is done through FTP.

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What is FTP? I am going to try publisher again. Can't remember exactly why I had trouble with them now. I tried so much. Wish me luck!:)

Thank you for your input. I'm going to try some more. I'm pretty sure you all will hear from me again.

Did you try 1and1. I posted instructions above.

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Originally Posted by WebsiteSolution

did you try 1and1. I posted instructions above.

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I'm playing with it now. See the greenie I gave you earlier on your post.:D

Not sure why it did that, maybe because it's a free site and its possible someone had already used that name on it.


FTP stands for File Transport Protocol. Before the WEB it was the standard way to send files around. Most WEB hosts still use it to upload files to the actual WEB site.

I would built a site using Graffiti CMS or Wordpress. You can do it yourself with 1000's of help and how-to pages online. Then host it anywhere you want. The way you are trying to do it now is like popping the hood of your car and just take stuff apart, you need to read up a bit before you start to work on the engine.

If you're still attached to Blue Host. I'm pretty sure you can download Wordpress as your content management system (CMS). They used to even have a button on their site to make it easier.

If you want to take Wordpress for a trial run first, you can always try one of their free sites and see how you like their CMS.