Once you've decided whether you want to host on
a shared computer or one dedicated to your
web site(s), you will need to consider a whole
range of other factors which may influence your
choice of a hosting service provider and plan:
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
Software. What will you be using? The web hosting provider often installs
some software, but this is usually not enough for the normal operation of your website.
Check that you will be allowed to install extra software.
If not, make sure the web hosting provider provides everything you need.
Access. How will the web site be accessible? Try to determine whether you'll
need ssh, telnet, FTP, pcAnywhere or any other type of access.
You should also decide whether you will provide your
visitors with the ability to connect to the site securely (via
https).
E-mail access. What kind of email (mailing lists, CGI-email, etc.)
will you be using? What will you be allowed to install?
What comes already installed?
REPUTATION
After finding a short list of plans that satisfy your needs
as described above, you should do some basic background checks
on the providers you are considering. For providers featured
on our site, we already did some research for you and included
company information that we found - its size, employee base,
revenues and so on.
YOUR PROVIDER's CONNECTIVITY
The quality of the connection and the existence of redundant
lines are another top priority. You should avoid those companies that
don't disclose their network capacity (i.e. the total bandwidth
available through their networks) and those whose capacity
falls below the T-3 level (roughly 45 Mpbs). Most large
providers have significantly better connections.
SUPPORT AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
The quality of customer service and the responses of other
clients are also worth looking into. This may not be
easy to predict in advance, especially since the sales
team and the customer support team are often completely
separate (in other words, the friendly salesman you talked
to will usually not be the one on the phone when you have
a problem or a question).
That's the area where small
providers may actually have a slight advantage - at least,
you are more likely to deal with only one or two people.
On the other hand, smaller companies may not be able to
provide 24x7 support.