I just replied to a craigslist posting where someone had already created a website but needed help getting it online. I thought I'd copy what I said here just in case it would help anyone else out.
I can give you an idea of what's required to get a website online. There's a number of steps involved and can be intimidating to someone new to the process.
I'm assuming that if you a website but don't have it published, you have a set of files that needs to be put somewhere that it can be seen online, say http://www.example.com/
The first thing you need to do is choose a domain name. This can be trickier than it looks, as many names are already taken. Better than simply entering in names into your browser is to do a "WHOIS" query on a name to see if it's already owned.
For domain names that end in .ca, CIRA is the best place to go. http://whois.cira.ca/public/
And for everything else (.com, .net, .org), there are many WHOIS servers. http://www.whois.net/ is OK to use for them.
Just type in your domain name and either it will show up with an existing owner or say that it's available.
If you're running a business, ideally you want a .com address, but going for a .ca name if all the .coms are taken is OK for a Canadian company... :)
The next two steps are registering your domain name and finding an Internet service provider (ISP). Usually the ISP can register your name for you. There are thousands of ISPs out there providing various levels of cost and service. You should expect to pay about $12-$15 per year to register your domain, and another $5-$10 per month for hosting service. GoDaddy is probably very cheap, but you get what you pay for in service. I use an ISP in Victoria called Baremetal.com, and their service is fantastic.
Once you're signed up with the ISP, you're usually given an FTP username and password. You need an FTP client (like Filezilla) to transfer the files you have onto this server. Usually there's a holding page ("It Works!" or something of the like) you have to overwrite. From there your website should be online.
Sometimes it's trickier than that. Some websites require a MySQL database, basically a storehouse of raw data that some websites use to quickly recall information. You need to upload that information to the SQL server, usually through an Import interface of a service like phpMyAdmin. Then you'll need to reconfigure the web server to point to your ISP's database.
Depending on the website, if you've already built it and it's relatively simple I might be able to help you get it on-line and host it for $120/year+PST. That will include the domain registration, all the paperwork and file transfers and an hour of free support per month just in case there's any minor glitches that needs fixing/updating.
Good Luck!
