my first video & comparison shopping for site builders

The music here is by some friends of mine in a band called The Donkeys from San Diego.  They're the ones writing the "theme" song to my podcast to play at the top of and end of each episode (I told you I get ahead of myself).  Yes, I could write and record a song myself for this purpose, but it would surely suffer from the fact that I'm the one who wrote and recorded it.  The Donkeys are not only good friends and one of my favorite bands, but to me they sound like an audible distillation of California.

GoDaddy vs. WordPress vs. SquareSpace

Aside from spending hours figuring out how to work the iMovie feature on my new computer to make this movie, I've been combing the internet for the best place to buy a domain name and build a website.  I asked everybody I know who runs a site and was mostly recommended to Squarespace, Wordpress, and GoDaddy.

- I went to GoDaddy first (name recognition, I suppose).  I went through the process of putting everything I thought I'd need into a cart and the price came to about $140 for a year.  Though most of the items were not explained very well and everything was presented as being essential.  Then a friend accurately described GoDaddy as, "the Turkish Market of web registration - they have everything you need if you know what you're doing, but you're pretty likely to walk out feeling ripped off and resentful. They'll try to upsell you at every turn and if you ever decide you want to leave them, they'll hold you down. I know people that have been trying to get out of GoDaddy for YEARS with no success. They also supported SOPA and PIPA and their owner hunts Elephants for game... so y'know, there's that."  Obviously, the idea of getting tied into a service that rips you off and doesn't let you leave is not appealing.  I imaged going into a McDonald's only find your locked inside forever, only eating McDonald's until you decide it's a kinder fate to starve to death.  The fact they supported restricting internet freedoms and have a douchebag for owner leaves a bad taste in my mouth (as McDonald's will do), but is not necessarily enough to deter me.  The king of Spain apparently hunts elephants too, and I love Spain.
An example of GoDaddy website is the Donkey's site.  They're quite happy with it, but their record label pays for it.

- Wordpress (this link is for their "theme directory") allows you to download their templates for free and then you can use that on any domain name you buy.  Hover and NameCheap are places that sell cheap domain names, but don't have any site building tools.  The WordPress tools seem very easy to use; just as simple as the WordPress and Blogger blogs we've been using (though we have had problems there inserting code).  My only complaint about Wordpress is their templates look very much like... well, templates.  They all have a "bloggy" sort of look, which isn't bad per se, but I feel like if you want your site to stand out WordPress might not be the best option.  That said, this will probably be that path I take.
An example of the WordPress website is my friend, Brent's English teaching site.

- The path I'd like to take is SquareSpace.  Sleek, simple, with only two pricing packages and helpful tutorial videos.  The site building tools are just as simple as as WordPress, but comes with a lot more options and capabilities.  It appears that you could design a unique and great looking site without learning a bit of code (though inserting code is very easy).  The only problem is those two pricing plans are $96 and $192 for a year.  And, wouldn't you know it, I think I would need to premium plan.  This really appeals to me because the unlimited storage and broadband, which is perfect for a podcast.
An example of a SquareSpace site is 9thFloorRadio.  I don't think they take full advantage of the style SquareSpace is capable of, but you can see the ridiculous amount of multimedia they manage on this site.  9thFloorRadio is Laney College's television and radio station available only online (I used to host a music show there when I went to Laney and am still friends with the manager).  Not only can you stream the audio shows live all day long, but you can download any show as a podcast.  Though because they have so many shows they use a separate podcast host, Liberated Syndication Pro.  The school pays the bill for SquareSpace and the podcast host.