If you're going in the wrong direction there's no need to hurry.

My reflexive jab at a domain name went awry (NNN, Mar. 20), partly because I didn't have anyone to tell me what I'm going to tell you.

For most of us our 1st, main or only association with the Internet is via an ISP (Internet service provider). It is natural but wrong to assume that your ISP is the best source for other Internet activities, such as domain/web hosting. Hosting specialists may offer better and/or less expensive ways to plant your flag on the web, and for your business or personal e-mail addresses.

Free website services, like www.tripod.com and www.geocities.com, are familiar to most of you. WebJump, www.webjump.com, not only provides 25mb of space, but will even register your domain name free, though with no e-mail services.

(Government regulations require prepaying $70 to InterNIC for a domain name, covering two years, then $35/year thereafter. Your host handles the application.)

Free hosts survive by placing their ads on your site.

But there remains the issue of your e-mail address: you@yourname.com. For a small fee many services provide both hosting and e-mail, either "real" e-mail (your e-mail goes to their server) or forwarded or both.

One of the better deals around is Pair, www.pair.com. For $4.95/month Pair provides 20mb of space and one real e-mail account. Additional e-mail accounts are only $1/month each. No ads, the setup fee is only $5.00, there's a money-back guarantee and -- they confirmed to me by e-mail that they really mean what their website says.

I checked dozens of services, and discovered several that looked good on all counts, by spending a couple of hours with www.budgetweb.com. BudgetWeb is a directory of hosts in every price range, including every combination of ingredients you can imagine. I recommend focusing on their list of IPPs (Internet presence providers), rather than VARs (value-added resellers); and virtual servers (which use your own domain name), not non-virtual (which give you only a subdirectory of their name).

Caution: price isn't everything. Check carefully for the specific kinds of services you want. Not least, think about whether they'll still be in business next year.

I decided I didn't need more space, but I did want "www.maizell.com." I also wanted two e-mail addresses in the form of jerry@maizell.com. And I didn't want to spend over $5.00/month.

What I found exceeded my expectations.

DomainDirect, www.domaindirect.com, a division of the famous Tucows shareware group, is an innovative service that is neither an ISP nor a host.

DomainDirect registers (or transfers), parks and forwards your domain name to another site. For example, entering www.maizell.com takes you to my free Tripod site, with my domain name in your browser window. They will forward five e-mail addresses, to any mix of accounts you wish.

The cost is just over $2/month (prepaid for two years) plus $25 setup fee (waived if you register by March 31). I went for it.

Does it work? It's too early to say. The transfer of my domain name isn't completed as I write this.

Point your browser to www.maizell.com and see if you get my website. Or if this is another "experience." Experience, as Oscar Wilde authoritatively declared, is the name we give to our mistakes.

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