they let you upgrade seemlessly and easily while also providing a very attractive monthly hosting option.  In my view, hands down, they are the best, especially for newbie bloggers wanting to make a blog, but also for experienced bloggers. When you sign up for HostGator, use this code:  "Blognewbie" and get a $9.94 discount. When you chose a domain name there are certain considerations to follow, but when buying one, you should generally just do so using your host, which may cost a dollar or so more than someone like GoDaddy or NameCheap, but the ease and convenience and speed just makes it better. When choosing your domain, stick with .com, .org or .net.  Don't rush into anything else and I would recommend staying away from anything else for a variety of reasons.  Google likes those top level domains and you should too! You can use hyphens if you're name is unavailable.  Personally I don't like hyphens in domain names, but there's no great harm done if you use them and so feel free to do so, but otherwise simply go your second-best keyword-rich domain name and choose one of the domains. "Themes" for blogs come in thousands of "shades of grey, black, blue and everything else imaginable" and they can help or hinder your efforts to make money using your blog. They provide the 'look and feel' for your blog and you should spend some time carefully working out what you need or what will help your blog make