There are many different options when it comes to obtaining hosting for a website. Many people, particularly those who are newer to web development, have difficulty in finding a host that meets their needs. Since there is no one host that fits everyone's needs, there are different things that those shopping for a host need to be aware of. Before going into different types of hosting, I am going to cover a few things that many web developers look for in a new web host. If these requirements aren't met by a particular host, many web developers usually won't go with them. However, many of the nicer features come from slightly more expensive web hosting packages. Because of this, it's important for those looking to purchase hosting to weigh their options and find what works for their particular needs.

A host must be reliable. If my host isn't up 99.9% of the time, then I could be losing a lot of traffic. Every host says they're reliable, so I take a look at actual customer reviews of a particular host from a third-party website before even considering using the host. I use a third-party website, because many companies want their service look good and many, sadly, will even lie to get a sale.

Some hosting companies actually charge for this. They don't need to. That being said, you don't need to pay. Find a host that offers free customer support and consider it over a host that charges for their customer service. Hosting companies make plenty of money from their hosting service, so any website owner should be wary about hosts that charge for customer service. I've always thought that companies charging for customer service, regardless of what they sell, is a shady deal.

The type of hosting needed depends on various things including website specifics and the website owner's personal tastes. For those running a WordPress blog there will certain services that a host will need to provide to allow Wordpress to work such as MySQL. Those running scripts and the like will require other types of services. It's important for the webmaster to know what services they will require for their site to function properly. I don't know of a host that offers all the services, so it is a bad idea to assume a popular host will "have it covered."

Hosts offer servers running either a Microsoft OS or a Unix OS. Some hosts even offer both to their customers. I highly recommend using a Unix OS. I have no idea why people use Microsoft for their hosting. I personally have had problems with my Microsoft server, but have had no real difficult with my Unix based host. Also, there are many services that won't work on a Microsoft server. There are a few services that are only available on Microsoft servers, but I've never been a fan of these particular services, either. ASP.NET is an example of a Microsoft only service.

It's also important to know that there are a few different types of hosting services.

Shared hosting is usually the cheapest and easiest to use for someone with little experience running a web server. While cheap you're usually giving up a lot of control over the web server. This usually isn't a problem for simple sites but it's something to keep in mind. Also, because the hosting is shared, your site may be sharing resources with many other sites on the same server. With a good shared host this shouldn't be a problem but with some of the less reputable hosts this can cause your site to slow considerably.

Dedicated hosting is the most expensive option. With a dedicated host you have complete control over the server. Also, because the server is dedicated to you alone you are not sharing resources with others which makes this the fastest option. You should stay away from dedicated hosting unless you have some experience maintaining a web server.

Virtual private hosting is somewhere in between shared and dedicated hosting. The cost of a good Virtual Private Server (VPS) usually isn't that much more expensive than a shared host but offers a lot more control over the server. The down side is once again resources are being shared among many other users, although generally in a more efficient way. Again this option requires some knowledge of system administration but the price being lower it may be a great way to go if you would like to learn more about running your own web server.

Space and bandwidth allotted on a hosting plan matters a lot. It's important for website owners to make sure they have a reasonable amount of bandwidth on their plans as well as space. I've never run out of space, but I've run out of bandwidth which can be a bad thing. The host I use will automatically upgrade me to a higher bandwidth plan in the case that I use my bandwidth for the month. Other hosts may shut down your site until the next month when you reset your bandwidth. It's important for website owners to make the decision as to whether they want to pay more for extra bandwidth in the case they run out or for their site to be shut down.

Cost is an important matter when it comes to hosting. There are free hosts available, but they generally require an ad of sorts to be displayed on websites that use their free hosting service. For those who don't mind this, by all means, use the free host! I, however, use paid hosting. Paid hosting generally costs $10 to $50 per month. It is important to realize that if a hosting company charges a lot for their service, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a great company. It's important to shop around. I use a $10 a month service that allows me to host an unlimited amount of websites as long as I don't exceed the bandwidth allotted in my hosting plan. There are different options in paid hosting. There is dedicated hosting which is generally expensive, but amazing. Some hosts also offer scripts at a charge that their customers can use on their websites.

It's important for website owners to set aside time to find the host that fits their needs. It's a great idea for them to divide a piece of paper (or create a spreadsheet) into various columns: one for the names of hosts, one for features the website owner absolutely needs, and several for features the website owner would like. With this, the website owner can visit each host and see what each offers and check off the features each host offers on their paper. There are also many different websites that allow website owners to quickly compare different hosts. I generally use this method and upon finding the host that looks the best, I scope out the host itself to make sure the information the host gives matches that of the review site. Using these sites make it easy to quickly compare the hosts as well as offering a forum for disgruntled or happy customers of each host to let the world know how the host "really" is. This allows for an honest look at how a host does business.