Choosing a home for your web site can be overwhelming. With the large number of hosting sites out there, it can be difficult to navigate through all of the gimmicks in order to find a reliable hosting plan that meets both your needs and your budget. This article is meant to provide some information to hopefully make the decision a little easier. By asking yourself a few questions, you can narrow down your choices before making a final decision.

How much Disk Space do you need?

Disk space is the amount of space you have to store files related to your website.

Most sites use about 50 MB, but you may need a little more if your site has a lot of images, audio, and video. You also might want to give yourself some room to grow.

It is better to have too much disk space than too little.

How much Bandwidth do you need?

Bandwidth is a measurement of the amount of data allowed to pass between a user’s Web site and the rest of the Internet.

You can estimate the amount of bandwidth you will use in a month by taking the size of a page and multiplying it by the amount of times it will be viewed in a month. For example, if you have a website hosted on a 2GB/month hosting account that has a 1 MB page, that page can be viewed 2000 times before you exceed the 2,000MB (2GB) limit. You are responsible for ensuring excessive loading does not occur on the hosting servers. Exceeding your allotted monthly bandwidth results in overloading and will incur an additional charge.

To avoid unexpected charges, it is better to buy a hosting service that provides more bandwidth than you think you will need.

How many Domains can I have?

If you have multiple domain names that you would like to point to your website(s), you want to make sure that this is allowed by the hosting plan.

How many Email Addresses can I have?

If you need to have several email addresses, you want to make sure that this is possible or does not cost extra.

Sometimes it is a good idea for even one person companies to have several email addresses. This can help make your company look more professional. Some examples of this are email addresses such as info@yoursite.com, support@yoursite.com, yourname@yoursite.com.

Does it support the language(s) needed for my website?

Whether you are using PHP, ASP, PERL, or some other language, you want to make sure that the hosting company supports it. Also, depending on your needs, you may want to check to see what kind of database, if any, the hosting plan provides.

Is the company reliable and professional?

You want to evaluate the company. You want a company that is professional, reliable, and responsible. Although it is tempting to go with the cheapest company you can find, this is not always the best policy and can end up costing you more in the long run.

Look for a company that has 24/7 telephone support.

The next step

Once you have narrowed down your search and are confident, sign up for your hosting service.

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