Hey I know this isn't the best place to talk about building a gaming website, but I thought this is probubly the best place to ask some questions.

I took web design in University, I learned HTML and how to build sites in DreamWeaver and Flash. Though I failed PHP and the programming part of Flash. I suck at programming.

Anyways my University never taught me everything I need to know to make a site. I have a few basic questions.

1. How do I buy a domain name?, I know alot of people use those free sites and such but the proffesionals and real sites are all purchased domains. I want to make sure that I own the domain flat out

2. Do you know of any affordable companies that build webpages?, I'm on a budget and my partners and I are looking to spend 1,500$ to 2,000$ on developing a site. Is that reasonable or outlandish?

Also if you know anything important that I may not already know please comment. I and my partners want to get the website up and running in time for CGC and PAX next year.

P.S- We will not be competing with VGChartz, so nobody worry! I just want insight into how to make a website! I only know HTML5 and couldn't build a proffesional site on my own.

My domain is at name.com and I'm happy with them. You will also need hosting.

No idea about prices or companies, it will depend on the scope anyway. There are a lot of free CMS's (Content Management Systems), I've used Drupal for a couple of uni projects and there's a lot you can do with it without programming anything or only changing a couple of small things. There's also WordPress, which is pretty much out of the blogging and in the CMS category now.

Basically you'll be paying for design, setting up the script and maybe a couple of small customizations in the code.