Last Updated: April 1, 2008

How to Choose a Web Hosting Company

You need to know what you want from a web host before you can choose the best web host for your endeavor. Do you want to have photos on your website? Do you want customers to be able to purchase your products online? Do you want tools to help you build your website? These are the kinds of questions you need to ask yourself before you can successfully choose a web host.

You're already on your way to choosing the right web host for your website. Since there are so many web hosts in the market, researching and reading reviews is crucial. You already know which 10 web hosts we think are outstanding but don't forget to check out our detailed reviews to find out why. You can also click on each hosts name to visit their website for more information.

Here are some things to consider when choosing a web host:

Bandwidth
Estimate your average daily bandwidth requirement by multiplying the average size of your pages by the number of pages on your site and then by the amount of visitors you expect to your site every day.

Minimum Bandwidth Needed/Day

=

Average Page Size

X

Average Visitors/Day

X

Total Pages

If you estimate that you need 5GB of bandwidth per day just multiply by 31 to find out how much bandwidth you'll require each month. Be realistic about your needs and factor growth into your decision. Does the hosting plan you choose have enough bandwidth for you to double or triple your traffic? How much more do they charge for exceeding your bandwidth allotment?

Storage Space (Disk space)
Storing photos, video, and audio will contribute to your disk space. Estimating how much disk space your website will require is important because, unlike bandwidth, disk space generally has a hard limit and once you reach it you can't save anymore. Think about the size of your multimedia files and find a web hosting plan that will give you enough disk space to store them.

Management Tools
Website management tools like web stats are important if you want to track how well your site is doing. Web stats tools are available through most web hosts but be sure to double check that it's included in the hosting plan you choose.

Support
Are you unfamiliar with web hosting and building your own website? You may want to consider a host that offers 24/7 technical support. If you predict you'll be requiring frequent support, choose a host that offers live chat and a toll-free support number. If you're already a hosting and website guru you may want a host that has an online help center so you can find answers quickly on your own.

Uptime
You've probably noticed that many hosts guarantee 99.9% uptime. This means that over a span of one year your site will only be down for approximately eight hours. The catch is that most hosts that guarantee 99.9%+ uptime often charge more for their hosting packages. Don't be skeptical of the hosts that don't guarantee 99.9% uptime because you most likely won't have a reliability problem but if you do you can always switch hosts and pay more for reliability.