So you have a new e-commerce idea or you want to promote your existing business online, and you need to know where to begin. You would need your own website, a place on the Internet where your customers can stop by and see what you have to offer. In order to get your site up and running you need a web hosting service.

Before you start looking for a web host, you need to figure out what your web hosting needs are. What type of website are you building? Is your website about your favorite sports? Or are you going just to ask a few friends to visit your site and see your photos or it is going to be more than that? Is it a person website or a commercial one? Thinking through all of these things will help you make up what you are expecting from your website. Based on this information, you can jot down what your web hosting needs are and how much money you can spend on this service. However, keep in mind that at the end of the day, for an average person, it is not the features or space that should be the only deciding factors.

Once you start looking at different web hosts, you will notice that they sell plans with different size of bandwidth and space. Keep in mind that most websites do not take more than 100MB of space. An average website uses about 50 MB space. However, given the choices available in most cases, for the most part, when shopping, you are going to wind up buying more space than you will ever need. Therefore, in the beginning try to buy web hosting service with the least amount of space. You can always upgrade it later if need be. So, do not go for more space and more bandwidth right away.

It is interesting to know that most web hosts oversell the space then they can actually provide or handle. In other words, if they sell 100 customers 1GB space each, and if each one of them actually used up all the space they paid for, the web host will not be able to provide the space because they just do not have it. They over sell the space with the idea that people do not know about it and by paying for a bigger package they actually feel their site is bigger and better. Another reason web hosting companies sell such large packages is because the next guy is selling it too. If you want to attract more customers, you do not want to look like you are a smaller company than your competition. There are some web hosting companies that offer unlimited space. What does it mean? That should mean you will never ever run out of space.

Even if you buy a package that is way too big for you, your web host will try to sell you bigger package by bundling up different features with the ones you do not have. If your site takes off and your visitors need more features, you will have no choice but to go with even larger package. I have had times when my web host informed me that although I had plenty of space, all the features I was using was interfering with performance of other sites. Therefore there would recommend a dedicated server.

Over the last few years web hosting companies have realized that their large packages do not generate additional income other than the annual renewals. The annual renewal comes only if your site is doing well and you plan on continuing with it. If you pack and leave, they have lost the annual revenue. So, in addition to providing a lot of freebees like web designing tools, and free scripts, etc., a lot of web hosts now allow you to use the space you have purchased for one website for up to 10 additional websites or in some cases unlimited websites. This is a very big selling point that you can have multiple websites on one account. Remember you were worried about running out of space? Well, now that problem has disappeared. Now you can have a unlimited websites if you buy a slightly bigger package than you bought the last time. In addition, you wind up buying more domain names. Most likely you will by domain names from the same company that is selling you the web hosting. This is more money for them. Also, keep in mind, with one web site your chances of packing up and leaving were greater. With multiple website, even if you have only one page sites, you are not going just drop your mini online empire and run. So you continue to cough up the annual fee year after year.

Bandwidth is the second most important sales point a web hosting company wants to talk about. Most of us do not know what bandwidth is unless we are in computers. Therefore, a web hosting company would like you to believe that your need a lot more bandwidth than you actually do. Bandwidth is actually the data that is transferred to your site or from your site every month. If you have more than one sites in that one account, than the bandwidth is combined for all the websites. To put it simply, unless you have a large commercial website with thousands of people visiting it everyday, go for the lowest bandwidth being offered.

When deciding about a web host, do not let the space and bandwidth alone determine what you get. Some of the most important things are the basic services you will need. For example, a live chat, toll free phone, and courteous and helpful customer service go a long way. If you are new to web hosting, domain names, etc. what you need the most is hand holding and real support. If it is good company, it should have a solid support system and be willing to help customers with all account sizes.

In addition a number of good websites make it easy for you to learn the entire process by providing detailed Q&A, tutorials, videos, and useful demos.

Therefore, before you sign up with a web hosting company, do some home work and call them up, use their live chat, and send them a question or two via e-mail and find out how soon they respond. And don't forget to check out the best webhosts at www.comparewebhostingprices.com. Good luck!