When evaluating a hosting company, there are a few essential elements that need to be investigated very carefully. In today's eWorld, a business' web site is its bloodline and should be considered as such by the web hosting provider.

First and for most, make sure the hosting company offers 24/7/365 technical support by phone and email. Try their phone lines and make sure you talk with a human being and not to a machine before signing up. Ask them about their Server Specifications to make sure it is a commercially-graded computer and not a regular desk-top or a laptop. Find out about their Facility to make sure they have fault-tolerant data center facilities employing some sort of true N+1 redundant configuration for all power and network components, and not some one's basement. Request information about their security and monitoring systems to make sure that the servers are managed and monitored around-the-clock with fault detection systems.

If they pass the above, then proceed with choosing the right plan:

When choosing a Web hosting plan, one needs to consider a few essential factors. Disk space, access to multiple programming languages, databases, SSL services, FTP access, regular backups, guaranteed uptime, access to server configuration files, raw logs/statistics, and the number of email boxes are among the first few elements.

The next thing to look at is whether you need a Windows or Unix-based host. This depends on what features you need. For example, if you are already using IIS, ASP, VBScript, Microsoft SQL Server, or Access, and you don't have the time to learn Unix-based solutions, you should choose a Windows 2003-based host. Linux- and FreeBSD-based operating systems and Apache Web servers are most common among web hosting companies because of their good track record of stability and performance. There is usually no need for the operating system of your computer to match that of your hosting providers.

Next, you should calculate how much disk space your site will need. Typically, 50 MB of disk space will suffice for a vast majority of sites that don't have a lot of graphics, sound and video clips or downloadable files. However, it is a good idea to leave yourself some room for growth.

Data transfer is the next calculation. You can estimate your data transfer requirements by looking at your sites average page size (including graphics!) and multiplying it by the number of page views you expect to have in a month. For example, you need 3 GB per month for an average page size of 50 KB, and around 2000 page views per day. In this particular case, we recommend getting a plan with 4 to 5 GB of data transfer limit per month eliminating any worries about overstepping your account's limit (which may cause extra transfer charges). For anything over 50 GB in transfer per month, you should look into getting a dedicated server.

For dynamic sites, you need to figure out the server-side languages. You dont know how to program in these languages, but you should know which ones you'll need to use on your site. Some of these languages include Perl, PHP,VBScript, JScript, or PerlScript, ColdFusion, JSP, Tcl, Python, server JavaScript, Miva Empressa, and even compiled C/C++.

Finally, if your site stores dynamically-accessible data (like user accounts, stock prices, maps), you'll need to set up an account with a database. NT-based plans offer Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server while Unix-based plans support mSQL, MySQL, or PostgreSQL. MS SQL Server is much more powerful than Access for NT, while MySql and PostgreSQL are more powerful than mSQL in Unix environment.