I agree with Matt's final bit. If you want to claim an area there needs to be an obvious boundary - it's why I used a fence and put torches round the coast.
(FWIW, I wandered about then found a large unused area; didn't realise it was as close to spawn as it is.)
However, new people also shouldn't be afraid to explore further out. Once you find an area, /home lets you get there *instantly* (excluding lag), nether gates can do it quickly (talk to HardWork), and tracks are relatively easy to build too.
EDITED: 27 Jul 2011 10:54 by BOUGHTONP