Looking for a web hosting plan can be complicating and frustrating. There are many web hosts available and many of them offer the same basic features. When it comes down to deciding on hosting, you need to figure out which fits your needs the best.

The Different Web Hosting Options

• Free web hosting

If you use free web hosting, you will have banners on top of all of your web pages. You will also have limited capabilities in customizing your website. This type of host is not the preferred type for online business websites due to the advertisements placed on the sites.

• Shared hosting

This is the most common and frequently used web hosting solution supporting many websites. At a low price shared web hosting offer perhaps a more limited options than dedicated hosting but is more than enough bandwidth and storage space for smaller business websites. There's a reason why this is the most popular web hosting plan out there.

• Dedicated hosting

This gives you much more room to grow your business. You can have as many sites on the host as you would like and will not need to worry about the server being able to handle the large volume of visitors to your site.

• Collocated hosting

You can purchase this server rather than renting a space. You will connect to the Internet through the server. This is for running high volume and multiple large websites.

The Basic Features of Web Hosts

• Server type

Most web hosts have Windows 2000, Unix and Linux servers. If you plan to run a simple website, you will not need to worry about the server the web host provides because most simple websites run off one of these three servers.

• Disk space

The size of your website will determine the amount of disk space you will need.

• Bandwidth

Bandwidth relates to how many visitors you will have on your site each day. Bandwidth is the power it takes for the information you provide on your site to travel to browsers. Many small online businesses will not need a large amount of bandwidth. Unless you are planning on an ecommerce or other comparable site, many web hosts will be handle your bandwidth.

• E-mail accounts

Many hosts will provide you with 10 or more e-mail accounts for your online business. The number of accounts you need may affect which host you choose.

• Support

Another feature you need to consider is the technical or billing support you will receive from the web hosting company. Some have a customer service line, which you can call when you have a problem. Others have e-mail or a ticket system, which you have to wait for a response. Responses are usually within 24 hours with these types of hosts.