Does it make any difference whom you use to register your domain name? Register.com seems to be the standard I see most, but I know there are others out there. Does it matter?

Also, if I should choose to do a generic template website with a hosting company, what happens if I then have a professional website done? It's still my site, right, and I can just have a new site ftp'd onto that domain (sorry, I know my tech vocabulary is really bad)? I just need to make sure the hosting product allows certain extensions, etc., right?

I haven't worked in the web world in a few years, and even then I was just on the marketing side.

TIA

There used to be a great resource (http://www.domainnamebuyersguide.com/) for rating domain registrars by price and terms. Unfortunately, this site no longer exists. When it did, Gandi (http://www.gandi.net/) (my registrar of choice) consistently rated at or near the top in all categories. One point on which to pay special attention when choosing a registrar is the question of who actually owns the domain name. Several--many--of the ultra-low-cost outfits will happily register the domain name you provide, but you do not end up owning it, only using it. Should you later want to change registrars or sell the name, you'd be out of luck.

So what should I be looking for to make sure I own it. With Register.com, I'm pretty sure that the registrant owns it because I used to have to deal with the cumbersome paperwork of transferring administration from one administrator to another, and then had to coordinate it with the owner. Sounds like with Gandi, you own it, right?

Look for something like this (http://www.gandi.net/contract.en.txt):The Client owns the Domain Name registered. Gandi simply acts on the Client's behalf. It's laid out for you pretty simply there. If the registrar's contract obfuscates the question of ownership behind paragraphs of legalese, it might be better to select another registrar.

Thanks, Andrew. I think I'm going to go with ipowerweb. I checked, and it says that I own my domain. That sounds pretty straightforward to me. I also like their one stop shop for hosting and basic marketing, etc. I think I'll try them for a year and see how I like it.