Whatever type of website you want to host, choosing the correct host can be tricky. Most hosting companies offer you more than you will ever use, their sales staff recommend high-end packages for small websites.

Be careful when choosing, you will need room to expand but before you contact a company's sales department; take a look at the size of your website. If it's 10MB you wont need 1&1s Home package with 800MB for ?4.99 a month!

Price and disk space aren't the only factors to consider when choosing a host. Monthly transfer is how much information can be moved by both visitors and you; this may be from uploading and downloading files. Monthly transfer is also know as bandwidth and is slowly eaten up by every visit. I have seen many hosts offering more space then transfer! Don't get caught out.

If you're planning to install a forum or a content management system, they will both require a database. Linux and windows based hosts both handle MySQL databases, but Linux is usually praised as being the more efficient. Your host should allow you to add an extra database to your account with only a small fee, but you need to find out how many are included and how much upgrades cost before you decide on whom to hand your money too.

It is usually a good idea to use a company who you know is trustworthy, whether you know someone using them or have heard of their good services.

About The Author

Philip Wylie is the CEO of PWnet, a company offering web solutions to all types of business. For more information visit www.pwnet.org.uk.

sales@pwnethost.co.uk