Web hosting plans differ in the features that they offer to cater to the different needs of the web site owners. A large website usually has many more needs than smaller websites. Look at the website that you are building. How big is it? Your hosting plan will need to provide you with enough storage space to store all of your web files, including any databases that you are running. In addition to your current storage needs, think about your website's expansion. What is your projected growth rate, and how much storage space will you need then? You should go with a plan that can accommodate your growth.
The amount of bandwidth offered also differs from plan to plan. If you anticipate a lot of web traffic going back and forth, you will need a lot bandwidth. If you plan to post videos or host a photo gallery, you will need a lot of bandwidth as well. If you have a plan that had inadequate bandwidth, your web site visitors will frequently run into the "server busy" problem. This causes frustration among your visitors and it may discourage them from coming back. Also, web hosts often charge a high price for bandwidth usage that is above the allocated amount per account. You can be surprised by a costly bill if you do not monitor your bandwidth usage or go with an account that can cover your average usage.
Determine if there is a time when your website receives a particularly high number of web visitors. You should check with your web host to make sure that they do not do any server maintenance during that time. A web server often has to be taken offline in order to have maintenance done on it. If your web host happens to take your web server offline when a lot visitors visit, you can potentially lose out on a lot of business. Therefore, pay attention to when your host does maintenance, and plan ahead.
If you plan to host a forum, you will need a special installation of the forum application. See if your host offers that feature. If that feature is available, see how easy it is for you to manage that forum.
If your website uses a specific kind of scripting code for part of it, make sure that your web host can accommodate that script language. Do not assume that all web hosts run the same software and that they are compatible with all scripting languages. Ask to make certain.
