So by the looks of it, I am gonna pay 285 dollars for the forum, 24 dollars a month for the hosting, and 13.95 a year for the domain name. Also 45 dollars for the installation. So that's about 369 dollars in the first pay.

So I buy the hosting and domain first. So do I buy the Vbulletin first or the installation?

Professional Upgrade/Install - $150.00
The professional install is ONLY available for vBulletin Classic and/or the Publishing Suite. We do not currently provide professional installs for ancillary products like the Mobile Suite or the Facebook App. This rule applies even if you have purchased one or more of these products in addition to vBulletin Classic and/or the Publishing Suite.

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Can't pm u if there is any other way please post

You can find cheaper yearly domain names than that. Not to mention if you purchase for multiple years the price goes down per year. I registered with whois.com Yearly rate is $9.88. GoDaddy is $12.95 a year. Do a little shopping to find the best price for you. I'm happy with whois.com for the price on my domain name.

After you get your domain name it's just a matter of registering it with your host. They can take care of it, or give you instructions on how to do it. Where you are going to host they are familiar with vB, so you shouldn't have a problem getting it going. The whole process shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to have your board ready to go. After you have the board installed you need to start taking security measures on it.

You can find all kinds of threads on how to secure your forum with a simple search. It's a good idea to have a document with all changes that you made. For example I've changed the name of my admin folder. If I'm going to upload a modification or update the site, I have to change the name of the admin folder they have to the name that I use. That is just one of several security things that you do.

Yeah I was thinking of getting multiple years like 5-10 years, but I didn't wanna risk not using the forum at all. I don't mind the price at all to be quite honest, but I'll give it a shot. I'll also see what I can do to secure the forum. thanks for the advice.

I started with 1 year, but that first year goes by quick!!

Here is a link about securing your forum: Securing vB Link

Wow that was a huge guide, I think I would have know a lot more if I got the forum. Yeah I think I'll go with one year offer, since I gotta pay 475 dollars for the forum, host, installation, and domain.

The list seems a lot larger than it really is. I would show you a picture to help you understand it a little better, but once you purchase the forum and have FTP access to your site, you will see how easy it is. The trick then is to remember before you ever upload anything to change the names of the folders you are uploading to the names you have changed on your site. It's pretty simple once you do it a couple of times.

Yeah I am reading the thread and I was like wtf? I just need to figure out how the hell I am gonna get 475 dollars. I got about 200 dollars right now. I mean its a good thing I found out all about this stuff before I just buy the forum and that's it not knowing about domain and hosting. That's why I had a bad feeling this whole week.

DO you really think you need Blogs and CMS from the start? If you're just learning forums that could keep you busy for a long time before you need to worry about CMS/Blogs... In that case you can save some money upfront and get the forum only package. Later if you upgrade to the suite it is only like $10 more then not buying it from the start. ($100 to upgrade later.)

If you pm me I could bring that price down for you