Hi Todd
This forum wasn't too difficult to setup but you do need to understand how to setup a database with your Web host and know the basics of uploading files via FTP. Once you've done those 2 things, customizing the board is pretty easy.
You are right in that you need a domain name and a web host. The domain name is of course yourname.com and the host provides you with the space and functionality to run this board.
Make sure your host supports MySQL and these days almost all regular hosts do. HostGator.com is a great host. I just switched to them recently and their customer support is superb.
So once you sign up with them you would buy vBulletin, extract the files to your PC. Next you would login to your host control panel and setup a database. All you do is create a name for the database and a username and password. Pretty straightforward.
Next follow the vbulletin instructions for installation. This requires you to edit one file (a config file). They'll ask for your database information that you setup and a few other host specific questions. (You can always contact Hostgator if you have questions about something vbulletin is asking for)
Once that config file is updated then upload all the vbulletin files to your host using the FTP user/password you setup in the hosting control panel.
From there you can customize the look and feel of your forum through the vbulletin admin/control panel. It's browser based and pretty user friendly.
Hope that helps!
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