What Will You Be Doing?
Before you begin any type of research into a hosting company, you will first need to know what you will be doing with this host.  Some of the questions below should help you to pinpoint what things you should be thinking about before choosing a hosting provider.

Are you looking to host one website with just a few pages or multiple websites with multiple pages or something in between?

Do you already have a website you will be moving or transferring?

Are you able to transfer your files yourself or do you need assistance?

Do you have a script or any kind of existing program that needs to run?

Do you need templates, page builders or other scripts made available, or are you creating it all custom?

Does your programmer, developer or designer have specific needs that need considered before you decide?

What are your plans for the future and growth of this website and does the plan/host you are considering support your current plans as well as future ones?

Does the hosting provider you are considering have specific restrictions that may prevent you from hosting your site with them?

Do you already have a domain name or will you be registering one?

Do you have data (such as credit card processing, passwords etc.) that needs securing?

Do you need a control panel interface or are you familiar with command prompt interfaces?

Do you need shell/command level access?

Do you have a specific platform/operating system you need running?

Do you want to share hosting with others or will you be handling enough traffic to need your own dedicated resources?

Do you have a specific budget?

How many individuals will be accessing the backend portion and do you need various access levels?

Knowing what your needs are is crucial to choosing hosting especially in a fast-paced environment like the internet. Often times what starts out as one or two small pages or tasks will grow into more. Both knowing what you plan on doing now and hope to do in the future will make choosing your hosting company that much easier.

There are a variety of choices and options for hosting that vary depending on the needs of the customer. Options include variations in price, operating system, file storage space, bandwidth, features available, and most importantly the level of control alloted.  In future articles we will discuss some of those options and features hopefully to help you better determine your needs.