For someone like me, that makes a living building websites, choosing a web host is like buying a car. It takes a lot of time to compare features and price to make sure that you get the biggest bang for your buck. Since every website is different, your needs when buying web hosting will be different almost every time. As a result, you want to make sure that you have a list of the features you need when you begin the process of shopping for a new host.

If you have a business website, then you might need to consider a dedicated or VPS hosting, however if you’ve got just a personal website or blog been shared hosting might be right for you. If you’ve got a very popular website, then you need a plan that offers a lot of bandwidth and storage, otherwise you risk a down website or a traffic surcharge, both of which can be very expensive. Although most shared hosting plans offer unlimited bandwidth and storage, make sure you choose a web host that lives up to their claims.

One of the most important factors for me when choosing a web host is the company’s customer service. I need to know that I can submit technical support claims via e-mail, telephone, and online chat. I want to make sure that the company will respond to my claim any time efficient manner and that my issue will not just fall to the bottom of the queue. Unfortunately, there are very few web hosts that offer this capability, so make sure you take the time to find them.

One last thing to consider is that you think about features you might need in the relative future. If you’re going to lock in a price for a year or more, then you might want to go ahead and add some additional features now, rather than pay for them individually down the road. This can save you a lot of money and will make it much easier to upgrade your website as the traffic and functionality increases. Although you might be tempted to take the best offer that comes along, I recommend that you spend some time analyzing each host to make sure that you get the best price and the most features.