With literally thousands of web hosting companies and even more web hosting packages to choose from it is quite challenging to compare all the companies and their hosting plans when looking for a host for your web site. However, there are a few basic options and features that are important when deciding on the right web host. They are...

• Reliability and Speed
• Disk Space and Bandwidth
• Operating System
• Customer Support

Reliability and Speed

Your web host is actually storing your web site on its servers, so one of the primary considerations should be that the server is fast. You cannot afford your visitors to leave your web site because it is so slow that they lose interest, especially if you have an online business. Of similar importance is the company's backup equipment to keep your site up most of the time. A good web host will have an uptime guarantee of over 99%, and nowadays all market leaders do.

Disk Space and Bandwidth

Further basic considerations are the amounts of disk space and data transfer (bandwidth) you are allowed per month. Your need for disk space is determined by the size of your web site, that is how much data you have stored on it, such as pictures, audios and videos. Your need for bandwidth is determined by the expected traffic volume, meaning how many visitors to your site you expect and how much data needs to be transferred each time.

A lot of hosting companies nowadays are actually offering unlimited bandwidth in their hosting plans. In general, this sounds like a real good deal. However, some companies will shut down sites the moment they exceed a certain amount of bandwidth. So please check the Terms of Use of the hosting provider you are considering and see if there is some hidden clause that only allows you a certain amount of bandwidth. This is especially advisable if you expect your site to become very popular with a lot of traffic or if you have a site where people can download software, audio or video. However, most web sites use less than 2GB of bandwidth per month.

Operating System

There are two main operating systems available, Linux and Windows hosting. Most web site owners do not need to select a particular web host over the other, as a lot of the hosting features run on both Operating Systems. A common misconception is that you need to run your web site on a Windows Server because you are using Windows 98 or Windows XP on your computer. That is not true. The only reason to choose Windows hosting over Linux hosting is if you want to use certain Microsoft based applications, such as ASP or ASP.net or want to run a Microsoft SQL server database.

Customer Support

Most hosting companies offer support via phone, email, a chat service, and web forms such as a ticket service. All big hosting companies offer customer support 24/7/365 which is crucial if you depend on your web site for your business. So checking out the available forms of contacting the hosting company should be part of your evaluation process. Get in contact with them, ask a few questions and check their timeliness, friendliness and how knowledgeable the people you are dealing with are.