1. Support Availability - This is by far the single most important thing to look for in a web host.  At some point you will probably have an issue with your site and nothing is more frustrating then when you have a problem with your site that affects it's functionality but you have to wait for the better part of a day to hear back from your web host.

 

2. Support Expertise - Finding a webhost with a great support staff that is familiar with the tools and technologies that you will need is absolutely vital.  Try to find out how many sites similar to yours that the webhost has worked with.  If you know anything about the technologies your site uses, quiz one of their support personnel on them just to be sure that they know at least as much as you.

 

3. Company Age - Just because a company is old does not necessarily make it good, but it does help.  There are literally tens of thousands of web hosting providers on the internet and most of them don't make past the first couple years.  When you're picking a webhost try to pick one that is at least 4 years old, because hosting with a webhost that is going out of business or being sold is never fun.

 

4. Uptime - Any time your website goes down you are losing money.  Even if it's just because the money that you are paying as hosting fees is being wasted.  Most hosts offer Service Level Agreements.  Pay attention to what percentage of uptime they advertise and what they will do for you if they don't provide the uptime they are promising.

 

5. Redundancy - Two is always better than one.  Redundant links to the internet and redundant power (in the form of a generator) are musts.  Mirrored SQL Servers, Load Balanaced Web Servers, a redundant storage architecture, and a redundant network topology are also all great things to have.

 

6. Security - If you are doing credit card transactions or if you are storing sensitive information, it's worth spending a little extra money to make sure that you are hosting with a secure hosting provider.  Secure providers should offer frequent system patches, controlled entry, and professionally installed security systems.  Always try to get a statement of your hosting provider's security provisions put down in writing.  This way if their security is every breached due to an ommission on their part you will have some legal recourse.

 

7. Expense - Everything comes down money in the end.  When you're picking a webhost, though, remember that time is money.  Rather than immediately trying to pick the cheapest web host that you can possibly find, figure out an acceptable price range for what you are looking for, pick out three or more web hosts that fall in that price range, and pick one based on the other criteria in this article.

 

8. Familiarity with your Market Segment - A company that has worked with a variety of other businesses in your industry is much more likely to understand the issues that affect your business.  For instance a hosting company that works primarily with marketers will probably have more experience with Streaming Media and E-mail Campaigns then your generic web host would.

 

9. Company Size - As a rule of thumb the larger the company, the harder it is to get ahold of a high level support person.  Larger companies do, however, offer more in the way of stability and security.

 

10. Extras - Many hosting companies like to try to lure in new customers by offering them a list a half a mile long of "special features" that their plan offers that others do not.  The fact is that most hosts offer these features because the are either very cheap or they are free and most customers don't use them.  If an extra is vital to the functioning of your environment and you can't get it anywhere else, go ahead and make the extra a factor in picking your webhost.  Otherwise just overlook the extras pages.  They are usually unneeded.