Before you start scouring the internet for a web host, you need to be clear about what your website's needs. It's imperative that you choose a hosting service that meets your requirements. However commonsensical this may sound, you will more than likely meet tempting, attractive advertisements along the way, doing their best to steer you off track.

So what do you need from your webhost?

1. Bandwidth or Transfer limit

   This limits the amount of data that can be transferred from the server each month. Not to be confused with actual webspace, the bandwidth limit is likely to be measured in MB, or GB of data a month. Bandwidth is used up every time an user loads any page from your website, downloads a file, or views a picture.

   Reading this very article means you downloaded its content from the web host, using up someone's precious bandwidth! However, the amount of data needed to be transferred to display a page of text is comparably smaller than displaying pictures or streaming videos.

   It is important to optimize your website to minimize bandwidth usage, in order to prevent exceeding the limit imposed by the hosting plan. Keeping file sizes small will also increase your website's efficiency. If the limit is exceeded, your website will be unavailable until the start of the following month, which is not good news!

2. How much bandwidth do I need?

   It is never easy to gauge how much bandwidth your website will require until it has been up and running for a few weeks. You can make a reasonable estimation however, based on what your website offers, and how many visitors it is likely to attract.

   Low bandwidth Mainly text, articles and information. Few, recycled pictures and logos.

   High bandwidth Downloads, image galleries, streaming media

   To estimate bandwidth, we multiply the number of visitors a day by the number of pages they are likely to visit in your site. In this example, 10%. We then multiply this by the average size of the pages in your site, multiplying the result by 31 (days in a month).

   average size of pages X number of pages X 10% X number of users per day X 31 ~= bandwidth a month

   Warning! There is no such thing as "unlimited" bandwidth. These offers are usually subject to terms and conditions and small print that limits bandwidth according to the host's discretion.

3. Web Space

   As hard drives grow, and webspace becomes cheaper, webhosts often flaunt this specification to sell their hosting plans. A service that provides 10 Gigabytes of space is certainly going to be more appealing than the service that provides 2 Gigabytes. However, you must ask yourself whether your website really needs a 10,000 MB of webspace? Personal, or small scale websites rarely use more than 20 - 25 MB of hard drive, leaving the rest empty.

   Do not underestimate the space you allocate to yourself, be generous yet sensible. Be sure to choose a host that gives you the flexibility to upgrade, or downgrade your package as you find necessary, at little or no extra cost.

4. Scripts and Extras

   Here is where many packages differ, and ultimately how you will narrow down your choice between hosts.

   If your web site utilizes SQL databases, CGI scripts, FrontPage extensions, SSI (Server Side Includes), ASP (Active Server Pages) etc., you will need a hosting plan that caters for your needs.

   If you have constructed your website using Frontpage, it is likely that you will require a server that runs frontpage extensions.

   Image galleries such as Coppermine, and community forums such as phpBB both require

   A webserver or web hosting account running on any major Operating System

   A SQL database system, one of:
   
   MySQL (3.22 or higher)
   PostgreSQL 7.0.3 or higher (preferably 7.1.x or 7.2.x)
   MS SQL Server (7 or 2000) directly or via ODBC
   MS Access (2000 or XP) via ODBC
   PHP (4.0.3 and above) with support for the database you intend to use above

   WordPress requires PHP version 4.2 or greater, and MySQL version 3.23.23 or greater.
   
   

5. Other considerations
   Customer support - Does your hosting service provide 24/7 helplines as well as online support?
   
   Credibility - Are you choosing an established hosting service? Hosting companies are established and taken down with alarming regularity, is the hosting service you're choosing long established? Have you read user testimonials?
   
   Reliability - Does your hosting service have an uptime guarantee? As server technology has improved, cases of server failures has decreased dramatically. How confident is your hosting company in their technology? Do they have a guaranteed uptime? Look for at least a 95% uptime guarantee and inquire what compensation is given by the hosting service for failing to meet their claims.