Yahoo's Geocities service is about to close in 2 months and it's getting time to look for an alternative, if you haven't already done it. Today we'd like to recommend both some free and paid services for hosting your own website.

But let's start with one basic thing first and that's your own domain name. A domain should be the foundation for every website because, compared to an internet address like geocities.com/yourwebsite, you have full ownership and control over it. This gives you the advantage of being able to switch to another website hosting service if you become dissatisfied with features, price or customer support.

By seperating the three elements website hosting, email and domain registration you can even further minimise the risk of being caught in another Geocities-like incident. In such a case you simply have to point your domain name to a new hosting service whilst still retaining the same overall branding and email address. Our Domains For Apps offering can help you to achieve this 3-way setup.

The following 20 services make building a website, blog or community easy. It's worth to take your time and compare their features and prices to find the tool that's best suited for you.

Hosted Website Services For Your Own Domain

We help you to configure custom domains for the following services from your iWantMyName account:

1. Build websites online

• Google Sites - Create free websites and wikis. Google Sites is part of the Google Apps Suite which also lets you use free email on your domain with Gmail.
• MobileMe - Websites are built with Apple's iWeb and can be easily uploaded to MobileMe. You can choose from a variety of themes and also create a blog using iWeb.
  
• Squarespace - Popular online website builder service. Make websites, a blog or portfolio. Also offers an iPhone app.
  
• Weebly - Drag and Drop sitebuilder to publish text, videos, pictures, maps, etc. Additional blogging features included.
  
• Yola - Create a site for small businesses, groups, non-profits or personal use with Yola's intuitive online editor.
• Ning - Build a social network with members. They can have their own profile page, add photos and videos or write a blog. Available in 18 languages.

2. Make a Flash website

• Moonfruit - Easily build Flash sites using the Moonfruit sitemaker tool with WYSIWYG features and social network integration for Twitter & Facebook.
• Wix - Professional Flash website editor. Choose from hundreds of free Flash templates, no technical skills required.
  

3. Start your own blog

• Blogger - Free blog service to post articles, thoughts, photos and videos. Blogger just celebrated its 10th birthday and is available in more than 40 languages.
• Posterous - The newcomer. Just send an email to Posterous which is turned into a blog post and automatically shared to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and more.
  
• Soup.io - Free tumblelog services to share links, quotes, video, audio, files etc. Soup.io is completely customisable and perfect for a mini-blog or lifestream.
  
• Tumblr - Tumblr is another easy way to blog that lets you use a custom domain. Share your online life from your browser, iPhone, desktop or email.
• Typepad - Professional blog hosting for businesses, journalists and writers from renowned Six Apart.

Other Website Builders With Custom Domain Option

These services offer the option to use a custom domain name and can be configured using our real-time DNS editor (don't worry about it, we can help you with the setup):

• Jimdo - Another comprehensive and easy to use website creator. Jimdo also offers a special import feature for all Geocities customers.
• Wordpress.com - Hosted version of the popular Wordpress blogging software. Many free templates are available for personal and business websites.
  
• Viviti - Build a unique website for small businesses, bloggers and web designers. No code and no hassle. That's how we like it.
  
• SnapPages - Online website creation tool for the rest of us with drag-and-drop simplicity. Looks very easy and Apple-like.
• Tank - Clean and simple webpage creator. It is aimed at people who want beautiful sites that just work. Build anything, anywhere, anytime.
• Webstarts - Create a professional online presence. Add Flash files, slideshows, music, images, widgets, ecommerce tools and more.
  
• Webs - Webpage creator for personal sites, groups and businesses. Offers a variety of layous and also has built-in community features such as forums and an event organiser.

We hope you enjoyed this article. If you don't have a domain yet you should check out our domain search and register your web address now.