Choosing the right web site hosting company for you.

There are so many companies out there that offer web hosting, that it really pays to do your research. Most of the hosting providers are reputable and stable, but there are a few bad eggs on line. I will not go into who is good and who is bad, I just want to help you to understand the importance of research.

First thing you need to do is figure out what features you will need on your web site.

• How much space do you need?
  If you are going to run a simple web portal, under 20 pages with affiliate links and good content, then you probably don’t need more then 10MB.
  Are you going to be happy with a simple web interface?
  Some hosting companies offer great web management pages that make running your site easy. I really like the companies that offer CPANEL for site management. This is the easiest interface for novices and experts to use. CPANEL includes great site statistics tools as well
• Do you want FTP access to your site?
  If you are going to become a successfully affiliate marketer you need to be efficient in your web site management. Having FTP access to your site will make your life much easier. Most HTML editors will have an FTP plugin making it easy to transfer your site from your PC to your hosted web server.
• Do you want to have multiple sub domains hosted?
  If you are going to host more than one site, it is a good idea to check that the hosting company you choose will allow sub domains. The good hosting providers offer some free sub domains.
• Will you want server side scripting like PHP, Perl, ASP?
  Server side scripting may become an important part of your site, even if you don’t know about it yet. It is almost a standard now to offer these services, but I would make sure your hosting provider does offer them in case you need them in the future.

I have taken the time to look for some great hosting companies that offer competitive pricing as well as full management packages. Take a look at the hosting companies below and see if they fit your business model.

Surf Speedy - Current hosting company of my web sites