Have a couple of questions on web hosting.

Im new to this whole web hosting stuff. I want to start a site but not sure what places I should use for hosting it. I dont own a domain, so I would be needing to buy one as well. Can anyone please help me find places where I can pay yearly at a time then monthly for cheap?

I have checked out places like InMotion, GoDaddy, Amazon, and Yahoo. Anyone have any other sites that they can recommend me? Also are the add-one to a domain purchase worth it to get (privacy protection, certified, and etc) or is it just a waste of money?

So you can get an idea on what im trying to do doing is that I want to be able to post embedded videos, pics, and/or links like a lite version of tumblr or wordpress but with my own presentation and no ads. Pretty much a simple personal online journal. Or would it be just cheaper/easier to buy a domain off of them tumblr or wordpress instead?

Any and all advice, suggestions, tips, stories, the whole shebang would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

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