different factors that should go into your decision making
process. One of the biggest factors should be:
1) Phone support. Email support is nice, but email
occasionally falls in between the virtual cracks. Getting
someone on the phone when your site goes down can take a lot
of mystery out of the entire process. A lot of the bigger
web hosting companies offer toll free support and weekend
hours to boot. Phone support is a great benefit for any web
hosting client.
2)Another factor to use in deciding whether to use a
particular web hosting company is their history. How long
has this company been in business? Web hosting companies
that have been in existence for less than a year might not
be the best choice. A hosting company with a proven track
record and a ton of happy clients is certainly a good sign
and might work well for you.
3)How about the company's software? This varies widely
between web hosting companies. I am rather fond of Cpanel
merely because I am used to it, understand where the buttons
are and what the features do. It's much easier to stick with
something you know than switching to a new User Interface.
Some web hosts offer Frontpage features and others don't.
Another specific area you might want to research are the
statistics programs. What sort of web statistics software is
included with your web hosting account? Is Awstats included?
This is one area you definitely want to heavily research
before signing up.
4)Fees. I'd rather pay a little more to get all the features
than fight it out with a sub par web hosting company who I
can't reach if my site goes down. I've found decent web
hosting for as cheap as $4 per month but generally pay
around $15 per month if I want all the bells and whistles
that I'll need to host a larger site. A lot of people worry
about hosting fees, but I've had the experience that I
generally get what I pay for. Finally, I'd look carefully at
the web hosting company's refund policy. Most offer a full
refund if you aren't happy with your service. If you are
paying for a full year of web hosting up front, you might
want to examine the company's refund policy in detail.