These days, it's a different story. Working with a hosting service has made things a great deal easier, as they can help you reserve a name for your site (www.[insertyournamehere].com), and they often provide tools to help get you set up, with minimal to zero programming experience required.
Today, we're releasing Google Services for Websites, a few more tools that your hosting company can now enable to help you improve your website. This expanded program includes Webmaster Tools, AdSense, Custom Search, and Site Search, making it easier to drive traffic to your site, monetize your site through the Google ad network, and add various search capabilities to help your visitors find information on your site faster.
For more information, check out our Enterprise Blog, Webmasters Blog and Custom Search Blog. And if your hosting service doesn't have Google Services for Websites yet, send them to this page. We hope you find these new tools helpful.