Ya know, I can't help but feel that if you're paying more than 70 a year for domain registration and gobs of server space, you're getting ripped off. Most of the providers listed above offer templates as a way to jack up their price. For the money you'd save, you can hire a cheap college kid to do your site for you. Or you could learn the basics and do it yourself. I have a GREAT hosting provider (www.icdsoft.com) and I don't get a cent from recommending their service--yet I find myself recommending them over and over again. In four years, I've never been anything but very pleased.

But what works for me may not work for you. I think the best thing for you to do (if you haven't already made the decision) is to make a list of the things that you require, and then narrow down from there. For instance, my list included:
--e-mail with the ability to integrate with Outlook, yet also have web mail
--a web-based control panel
--decent statistics software
--good customer service
--enough features that I wouldn't have to switch down the road as my needs increased or changed

Some other things:

It will take up to a few days for your newly registered site to "populate" the web. I'll skip all the boring details and just say that this has to do with all the servers out there recognizing a new destination.

Don't underestimate the importance of good statistics--and we're not talking a web counter here. I find myself endlessly fascinated by who is visiting my site. You will be too.
I don't have tons of unique visitors--about 500 per month--but they keep coming back and the number continues to grow. (I should also confess that my site is currently hosting my blog, rather than my business information. As I just went back to freelancing, I will probably put the biz on the main page and shunt the blog elsewhere.)

I'll shut up now, but let us know what you decided!

Wow - you all seem to spend huge time in researching those hosting services! I also have a website but I don't have a domain - should I? My site is in sitekreator.com, I use it for free for 2 years already and don't need a domain. People can anyway see my site, although it starts with sitekreator.com

We are writers not webmasters so I don't think anyone cares that much if you use off-the-shelf templates or what. People enjoy your writing correct?

My site is also based on a ready design template but I like it and the fact I can publish anything new I write within a few minutes is the only thing I care about..

I too am now with 1and1.com.  Not being a web designer by any stretch of the imagination I needed help.  My original site was built for me and I love it, but I wanted more control over it.  I was always having to contact the designer to update it.  My second site I decided to do myself.  It took months using Front Page ( I got the program for $99.00 through a software outlet) and I learned how to use it through the online tutorials from Microsoft.  The (second) site was hosted (through a subcontractor) with Kiosk.  It is a good place I suppose, but I didn't stay with them for very long.  It was costing me for each site (they were on different server hosts) and I couldn't understand how to navigate the Kiosk server.  A friend told me about 1and1 and she helped me to move both sites there.  I don't have any trouble figuring out how to use it now and it's only one price for both sites (and a third if I wish to start it) with 2000 e-mail addresses available!  If I knew coding it probably wouldn't have taken as long to do the site as I had to work out a few bugs in it, but I 'm happy with the service at 1and1 and it even has a section where I can check traffic to my site.  Now when my husband asks if I've had any visitors to my site (it doesn't have a visitor counter-haven't figured that out yet) all I have to do is go into my server account and with a couple of clicks of the mouse, I can see if I have had any visitors.  Makes feel like I'm not quite so ignorant-about web sites- since I don't do coding.