How to choose a web hosting company

Your web hosting company does not have to be the same company where you register your domain. However it requires some knowledge on associating a domain name with the IP address provided by the web host.

If you are on a tight budget, free web hosting is the best option available to you. This type of web hosting is usually supported by advertisements on hosted websites and the domain you receive is typically a sub domain (yoursite.50megs.com) or a directory (geocities.com/yoursite/). This type of web hosting has limited features, and therefore it is recommended for people who are just starting out on the Internet and are interested in having a small site with little traffic.

When you search for a hosting company, you often see terms like: disk space, bandwidth, SSL, E-mail, dedicated IP, GB data transfer, sub domains, scripting, etc. Take some time to get familiar with these terms. It will help you to select a web hosting company that best suits your needs, and will help you purchase the right amount and the right kind of web server space.

Choosing a web hosting company that suits you needs may seem like a daunting task, but by doing research and making an educated decision should yield satisfaction and success on this critical matter.

Use the following table as a reference1 to help you out. For explanation on which platform to select (Linux or Windows) from the hosting company, please refer to Linux or Windows Hosting - which one is right for you?

Element	What It Is	How Much do You Need?	Summary
Bandwidth	How much information can be sent back and forth to your site (measured in gigabytes - GB).	10GB/month for a starter site with some media files; 35GB/month for a commercial site with e-commerce.	Look for a provider that will let you increase bandwidth as your site and traffic grow.
Server space	How much content you can store at your site (measured in megabytes).	Small site - 5MB; moderately sized commercial site - 500MB.	Choose a provider that lets you increase space on the fly without paying a penalty.
E-mail addresses	Custom e-mail addresses at your domain name.	Most sites provide at least five e-mail addresses.	If you need lots of e-mail addresses, make sure you can add them as an optional part of your hosting package.
FrontPage extensions	Files that manage form data in online databases and other features in FrontPage.	FrontPage 90,2000, and 2002 have their own sets of extensions; look for the latest version.	Good if you will be including an Access database in your FrontPage site.
CGI scripts	Used to manage form data for products other than FrontPage.	Different web hosts provide their own sets of forms and scripts.	Even if you aren't including data, this feature may come in handy as your site grows in complexity.
Support	Help provided by your web host-don't assume any unless specified.	Ranges from auto-replay e-mail support to 24/7 live phone assistance.	Decide how much hand-holding you need, and try to test the support before purchasing server space.
Password protection	Pages that can be accessed only by visitors with a username and password.	Used for sharing confidential or internal information.	An available option for larger sites that will have restricted areas for registered users only.
Real Media Server and / or QuickTime Server	Software that detects connection speeds and makes different versions of your movies available to dial-up and DSL visitors.	Site providers with RealMedia's Server provide support for multiple streams (download speeds). Hosting services with QuickTime Streaming Server support buffered media downloading for QuickTime and Windows media files.	Useful if your site will be heavy on audio or video.
Subdomains	Additional level of domain name.	Example: www.store.z.com would be a subdomain of 222.z.com.	Useful for organizations (like universities) with many departments or divisions.
SSL	Provides extra security for confidential web transactions.	Often offered as part of larger web site packages. Most sites don't need this.	Commercial e-commerce vendors like Yahoo!, bCentral, or PDG provide secure servers; beginners don't need SSL on their own site.
PHP/MySQL, ASP, JSP, and other server languages	Used for developing complex database-driven web sites.	Not for beginners or intermediate developers.	Check with your organization's database administrator to see if he or she will help you implement a database-driven web and which server language he or she prefers.

1 Karlins, David, Build Your Own Web Site, McGraw Hill Osborne, 2003, p 28-30.