Searching around for a web hosting company?
Here's what to keep in mind.

The current count of web hosts yields just over a gazillion companies claiming to be number 1, offering the very best in what hosting can offer with prices that simply cannot be beat. Needless to say, it can take a trained eye this day and age to see through their gimmicks and get right down to whether this company has what it takes – and what you’re looking for. If you need help, do not worry. It is quite typical in this business to make mistakes when choosing a hosting provider; don’t let it happen to you.

Before beginning your search, analyze what your needs are. What features would you like your site to have? What Internet programming languages do you anticipate using? Dig deep and reveal site specifics, like feedback forms, database connectivity or any other site feature that is simply too advanced for pure HTML. What about e-mail addresses? Do you have a domain name? How much traffic do you expect to receive? All these questions help in the final decision for that one glorious hosting company.

In the midst of your search, you'll probably run across hosting services that offer 'unlimited bandwidth'. This is simply not true, and I feel compelled to let you know. The term 'bandwidth' (more appropriately, ‘data transfer’) refers to the amount of data that is passed between the hosting servers and the end user. Most hosting companies are connected to high-speed Internet backbones (UUNET, Sprint, AT&T, etc) which charge the hosting company based on their monthly data transfer from customers. Needless to say, if you rack up upwards of 25Gigs of bandwidth a month, that lacks financial prosperity for your hosting company. Be sure to read the terms of service very carefully with each hosting company that you are considering, especially if they advertise 'free' or 'unlimited' site features.

A hosting company's technical support services often go untested, especially with beginners to the site design and hosting world. A skilled and prompt support staff should be one of the most important decision breakers in your mind. If you run into trouble getting a Perl script to work, or perhaps your database permissions are not setup correctly on the hosting company's side, you want (no, check that – you NEED) those problems corrected, and fast. One way to test a services’ support staff is by sending them an e-mail. Keep track of how long it takes for them to respond to your email. Try to send an inquiry to support and sales and any other department they advertise on their web site. Ask support if they offer a web language that you like, or ask the sales department if they charge your credit card or contract with a third party to do it for them. If you receive a response the same day, you can probably rest assured you will receive timely help with any inquiries you have. They should not take more than one complete day to get back to you.

Another good technique is asking for feedback about the company. Ask questions through e-mail lists, discussion boards and other mediums. If the company provides a testimonials section, look into contacting the authors of the testimonials and start asking questions. The more comments you have, the better you will know how the company treats its customers, and how happy they are with the service.

Pay attention to how long they have been doing business. Choosing a well established web hosting company will generally lead to pretty consistent – and positive - results.

Now, let's get down to the nitty gritty: Does the service offer what you want? Although you may expect your site to remain fairly small, always allow yourself some room to grow, represented in megabytes (Mbs). If you're using 5Mbs, look for 10. If you're using 20Mbs, look for 30 or 40. If you are a photographer and want to use your site to house a portfolio, you better opt for a more powerful account with more space and data transfer, as images demand more of both. Depending on how many images you have and how popular your site is, look for at least 50Mbs of space and 5Gigs of bandwidth. However, a regular, average size site with mostly html pages, should be fine with 15 or 20Mbs and 1 or 2gigs of bandwidth, paying no more than $15 a month - depending on other features.

If you have purchased your own domain name already, be sure the hosting company supports them (most do), and be sure they give you at least 1 e-mail address (you@yourdomain.com). A lot of companies offer 10 or more custom pop e-mail accounts with unlimited forwarding address at little or no additional cost, which is a nice feature. Most of those services provide webmail applications, such as Horde, for easy email access.

Let's look at a few features and offerings you might find with Linux and Windows based hosting services.

Since the Linux operating system and all Linux based languages and databases are free to install and offer for the hosting company, prices are usually lower than Windows. Perl should be supported with sendmail support for any formmail scripts. SSI is nice, along with .htaccess. Linux is the choice of most budget web designers and is also much more secure than Windows. In general, more configuration options and advanced customizations are available with Linux based hosting services.

Windows based servers are flat out expensive for the hosting company to purchase, so prices are usually a bit higher. Cold Fusion is fairly expensive and is purchased through Allaire, now merged with Macromedia. SQL Server is also purchased for a high price through Microsoft, while Access is almost free. Any important database work should be done through SQL Server. If you want the extra features through a Windows host, be prepared to pay extra. In case you are wondering, WebSiteGravy.com rests on Linux based web servers.

The decision rests in your hands. If you are completely new to the design world and know next to nothing about hosting options and features, you may find a Linux based hosting service more to your liking, and for a lower price. If you are using Microsoft Access databases for the web, a Windows based hosting service with Access support would be required for you. Take your time when looking for a hosting company. Test their support services, gather comments from others and weigh your requirements to the company's features and offerings. Remember to leave yourself some room to grow and expand.

Good luck.