How To Choose a Web Hosting Company

• Do you have or need to get a website?
• Do you want a custom domain name for you blog?
• Do you own one or more domain names and pay to host them somewhere?

If you have a URL or need a URL for any reason, this article is for you.

Not all web hosting companies are created equal. This little necessity to profiting online, web hosting, is often a poorly considered choice that many think is hard to change later.

At their worst, some web hosting companies will charge you an arm and leg, have servers that crash regularly, and never be available when you have a question or concern.

At their best they offer unlimited bandwidth, unlimited disk space, unlimited domain names for one price, and tons of features and services with the technology to back them up.

Server: A computer or software system that allows other computers to store information on it.

Domain Name: Title and address of your website.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator): The standard way an address is presented on the internet. The first part indicates what protocol to use and the second part specifies a domain name (for e.g. "aol.com").

Streaming Media: Multimedia that is continuously received by, and normally displayed to, the end-user while it is being delivered by the provider. Streaming media can be audio, video or both. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather than to the medium itself. Since it takes up quite a bit of bandwidth, it may not be offered by the hosting company your are considering or may be an additional charge.

Bandwidth: Amount of traffic that is allowed to occur between your web site and the rest of the internet. If your site exceeds it's allowable bandwidth, you could be charged large overage fees or your site might be taken down with or without notice to you. Most hosting companies charge extra for higher bandwidth.

Common Gateway Interface (CGI): A program that translates data from a web server to a readable format in the web browser. It can be used for visitor registration, guestbooks, technical help, and more. Many web hosting services offer prewritten versions of CGI scripts.

1. Price
2. Domain Names - number allowed on account, registration costs
3. Storage Space
4. Email accounts - types, number, features
5. Bandwidth
6. Scripts & Databases - do they offer and/or support CGI, PHP, MYSQL, PERL and anything you'll need.
7. E-Commerce Solutions
8. Multimedia Features
9. Extra Features
10. Security
11. Technology
12. Support
13. Uptime Guarantee

"A penny saved is a penny earned."

If you are serious about making money online, it is important to spend your limited resources wisely. This does not necessarily mean choosing the cheapest solution available, but choosing the service that will best meet your needs, provide a reliable web experience for your visitors at a price that is fair and affordable.