How easy is it to create and maintain a web site?

You can start easily with a web editor like front page 2000 or the popular free NVU. Then maybe start by signing up with a free host, e.g. Netfirms Basic from http://www.netfirms.com/ or the popular http://www.110mb.com/ Many free hosts have their own free web editors. Perhaps download and use a free template from one of many templates web sites, e.g. http://www.steves-templates.com/ then up load your site to your host (use a free FTP program to upload your site - e.g. core FTP). Then you can promote it in forums, search engines, directories, etc, if you want. You could start with a blog as well, e.g. try the Google’s blogger or the advanced wordpress (which you can add plugins for enhancement), or use the simple Google Page Creator (You need a Gmail account) - easy to set up for a beginner. Later on though, it might pay to learn html/JavaScript/PHP etc, which allows more flexibility to design and modify your web site. Then maybe upgrade to a paid host and domain, which will possibly yield more features (scripting, bandwidth, increased storage space, email accounts, etc) and more ownership of your site...

If you want to start a website I suggest you to purchase your domain and hosting together. In this way it is possible to get your domain for free. Some hosting services offer this gift today. As an experienced webmaster I recommend BlueHost service which I’m sure it would work for you and fulfill all your requirements. They have a really great offer for hosting & I have used them for over 3 yrs now, and have never had a single problem with them. They are a Multi-awarded Web Hosting which offer a Full-featured service only $6.95 a month. Their service is really perfect and uptime. You can go there through the address below: http://bluehost-service.atspace.com Here I have copied and pasted its features from their website to view: - Free Domain Forever - 1500 Gigabyte Hosting Space - 15000 GIGS of Transfer - Host UNLIMITED Domains (Support All Domain Names) - 2,500 POP/Imap Email Accounts - SSH (Secure Shell), SSL, FTP, Stats - CGI, Ruby (RoR), Perl, PHP, MySQL - 2000/2002 Front Page Extensions - Free Site Builder - 24/7 Superb/Responsive Sales/Support - Free Search Engine Submission They offer an installing service called "Fantastico". By using this service, you can easily create your own forum, photo gallery, shopping carts etc. They also offer "Free Site Builder" that helps you build your web pages without difficulty if you are not skilled in using any creating website programs. ******IMPORTANT******* * This service was awarded as the best Web Host 2008. * If you sign up for this service you will have $100 credits to advertise your website with the google & yahoo search engines for free! * If you don't exactly know what technical features you need for setting up your website, I recommend BlueHost as a full-featured service which fulfills all your requirements. ************************* Good Luck!

For free try http://geocities.yahoo.com/ or else you can find step by step guide on how to create a web site at website like http://www.aplis.net/ .