With thousands of website hosting companies all wanting your business, carefully consider these 7 points below, designed to help you make the best possible decision for your website.

1. Server Space

Think about how much space your site will need. Unless you are planning on having a software distribution company or running an image gallery, the files/pages that make up your website will probably only use between 2 and 10 megabytes of disk space. Hosting companies will offer several hundreds of megabytes, often gigabytes, of space for a very reasonable fee, trying to out perform the competitors and attract your business. It is true that you should allow your website space to grow but at the same time do not opt for what seems like a great deal with a massive amount of space if you will never use all of the space offered. Chances are, with a little searching, you will find a better deal for an amount of space more suitable for your site size. If it is a personal website then the maximum space you will need is 50 megabytes. All hosting companies offer an upgrade facility should you require more space later.

2. Bandwidth - Data Transfer Allowance

This decision is made on the same basis as the space decision. Though you may believe that your website will be the next eBay, Yahoo or Amazon and receive a millions of visitors each day, be realistic! The majority of websites have just a few visitors a day. The chances that you will need more than 500 MB of bandwidth in any one month are slim if your website is a personal / homepage web site and just as with space you are able to upgrade at any time should the need arise. "Awesome deals" are enticing, but realism should be your goal - why spend money on space you cannot possibly use? Be wary of web hosting companies offering "unlimited" data transfer as there are usually some fineprint stipulations that make this claim questionable. If you have a small to medium business then one gigabyte of bandwidth allowance is plenty.

3. Support

Ideally a web hosting company should offer 24/7 email support at the minimum and preferably with telephone support. There is nothing more frustrating than being in the middle of working on your web site and you need a piece of information to finish the work and not being able to contact your web hosting company to find it out. That said, most hosting companies do offer informative, comprehensive online FAQ and knowledge base type support and you should take some time to investigate this aspect of the hosting company you are considering, reading the provided information - consider it part of the learning process at the same time.

4. Scripts and cgi-bin Access

It does not matter what sort of website you are planning, chances are that at some time in the future, if not immediately, you will need to install some type of cgi or perl script and this requires access to a special folder-directory on your server named the "cgi-bin". You need to ensure the hosting plan offers this. Also be sure that the account you are considering supports the language in which your scripts are written, such as php and perl.

5. Control Panel

One important point to remember is that the simplest Control Panel that comes with your hosting account is named cPanel - so that should be a serious consideration high on your list when comparing web hosting companies. There are various control panel software offered, including plesk and others, but cPanel really is the simplest to use especially for someone new to websites. Ideally you want a linux server with cPanel. Another advantage of cPanel is that usually includes a one-click-install system named Fantastico, making the installation of such things as guestbooks, bulletin boards, blogs and a lot more, very simple.

7. Reputation

It is difficult to define a way to ensure that the web hosting company you choose is reputable, but there are signs that can indicate their reliability. On their website see if they mention how long they have been in business as this will be an indicator of their likely permanency. This can often be found under a link named About Us. See if there are any testimonials posted on their website by current clients. If your friends have a website, ask them details about their web host, the support they receive and how they feel. In addition there are web hosting companies specialising in specific areas; for example, a web hosting company may specialize in hosting websites for golfers; such a host is likely to have specific knowledge of the requirements of golfing enthusiasts and you may do well to consider such a host if your website is based around a specific topic.

Remember that the largest host boasting a huge number of clients, is not necessarily the ideal either. Whilst they may have the knowledge and experience, do they have the personal support that you will likely need or will you end up being just a number amongst the thousands? Consider all these points when you choose your web host, and do not be afraid to email them before you sign up and clarify any points that you are unsure about.