There are a number of things you should look at when selecting the best web hosting service for your website.  How much you can store and how much can be transferred to visitors are only the beginning.  There is a lot more to think about than that, especially since so many web hosts now offer unlimited storage and bandwidth.

One of the more obvious things to look at is price.  You need to find something that you can afford, but you should always keep in mind that cheaper hosting is often worse hosting.  Lower cost could mean a reduction in features, customer support, storage, bandwidth, number of allowed domains, and more.  If you don’t need the features that were removed to reduce the price, then the reduced price is better for you.  Otherwise, consider spending more to get what you need in a web host.

The second most obvious things, storage and bandwidth, often have much less obvious restrictions.  Most hosts offer “unlimited” storage and bandwidth, but they almost always have some sort of catch to that (which is usually listed in their terms of service).  For example, some hosts that claim unlimited storage put a cap on the number of files you can store and on the size of files that can be transferred, or the terms of service will state that everything that is stored there must be expressly used for the website, not simply for storage.  Usually, these restrictions won’t affect you, but you should know what they are, because sometimes they do.

Depending on what you want to do with your website, the offered features can be very important.  Not all web hosts support the latest programming languages, and without them, you might not be able to do exactly what you want to.  Some hosts offer regular backups and uptime guarantees, sometimes even short term money-back guarantees.  Knowing which features your host offers will let you get the most out of your host, or it might convince you to switch hosts entirely.

The most difficult thing to compare between hosts is the terms of service, but they can be very important.  They often state what you are allowed and not allowed to show on your website, how you can use it, and what happens if you over-use or abuse it.  You want a terms of service that is strict enough to prevent someone else from hogging all of your resources, but loose enough to allow you to do what you want to do with your website.  That balance can sometimes be difficult to find.

Lastly, the level of customer support is very important.  A seasoned programmer might need less customer support, but if the site goes down and it needs to be fixed from the server side, even expert programmers will want fast and easy customer service.  Everybody else will likely need the customer service that much more, so try to find out how good the host’s customer service is before committing to them.

If you’re having difficulty comparing all of these things yourself, you can always look up some web host reviews, but be sure to try to find reviews that cover all of the points mentioned here.  It’s also not a bad idea to look at more than one review of the same web host.  Good luck shopping for your new web host!

Guest Author: Jeff Manors