I've also been really happy with NameCheap.
As to what to put on the site, that's tougher. It depends on a lot of things. If you already have a big following (mailing list), then it can be more of an announcement thing, with less content. But if your plan is to generate interest and sales through the site, then conventional wisdom says that you need to include a good chunk of content on the site for search engines to sink their teeth into.
As to updating, again, it depends. Blogs are all the rage these days, but they require a ton of ongoing work to remain fresh and relevant. Personally, I'm using a static website to try and promote my book, with no plans for regular updating. I'll tweak it as I have new ideas about making the site better (mine is strictly a do-it-yourself affair), but it is not part of my plan to keep posting new content.
My own opinion is that if you are trying to promote a single book using the site, that a regularly updated blog is not a good fit. I'd instead design a nice simple site, include some good chunks of content from the book, and focus my energies on marketing rather than updating.
But again, it depends a lot on your situation. Best advice is probably to spend a lot of time clarifying and refining your goals for the site before you put a lot of work into it. I can tell you from experience that changing course mid-stream on a website build is not optimal!
NewGuy