Every web hosting site is different and there are a wide variety of services available. Internet providers often offer free web sites to their customers. Many people prefer to purchase hosting services from professionals. Personal website hosts are often more affordable than websites that cater to business. A hosting services set up for professional usage will provide a control panel for access to the functions of the web site and management of its content and installation of scripts. These professional website providers can be easily searched online through the variety of search engines.

In order to make an educated decision on a hosting company it is important to go through all of the services provided and familiarize themselves with what should be available as part of a general package. Some companies offer discounts on packages that will help those looking for cheap providers for their websites. Some important aspects that to consider when looking at individual hosts are host uptime which is the amount of time a host is available. It is also important to be sure as you use the service your expectations are met as promised. Every attempt should be made to receive a full or partial refund if they are not.

There are several different types of web host including:

* Dedicated hosting: Dedicated hosting provides the website owner its own server and complete administrative control and access.

* Managed hosting: This is similar to dedicated hosting in that you get your own separate server, but the difference is that you cannot manage it yourself. This is a leased service.

* Virtual hosting: The server is separated as virtual servers. All the users feel that they are having a dedicated service but in actuality they are sharing the server with other users. The users have access to their own space.

* Free hosting: Advertisement supported hostings are free.

Other types of hosting include, Reseller web hosting, Shared web hosting service, Grid hosting, Colocation hosting and clustered hosting.

The most common type of service offered by web host companies is the general internet access plan. This package provides all of the services mentioned above as well as site design and email access, billing information available online, content management, technical information, and backup services.

There are several parameters based on which, a user should make his selection of a web hosting company. Tech Support, Uptime, Disk Space, Bandwidth Limit, security socket layer are some such parameters. Below are top 5 hosting companies that have been selected on the basis of these parameters:

Top 5 hosting companies are mentioned below:

1. Hostmonster- This web host service has been in existence since 1996. They have a reputation for providing great service at a low cost. Their backup system is secure and reliable their customers have a great sense of security. They provide a large amount of information on their use and procedure to give visitors a clear understanding of their performance.

There are a large number of hosting features this company gives its customers including:

* Customer domain name

* Provision of domain name

* Email addresses

* Additional domains

* Domain parking

* World-class service and technology

* E-commerce ability

* multimedia features

* bonus features

* web site promotions

2. Inmotion hosting: This world-wide service provider has clients that span the globe. They are flexible and reliable and enjoy many praises from their customers. They have won the Top Business Host Award 2008 and are listed in the top 10 hosting companies. They have awards for all of their specific services in 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008. They have served the internet community since 2001 with dedication and diligence. They share a partnership with CNET as a certified service provider, the BBB, and as an SWsoft official partner. The services they provide include:

* Private Virtual server

* Dedicated server provisions

* Business Class hosting

* Personal and cheap hosting

* Management capability

3. Bluehost: This is one of the top hosting companies that have been serving its client since 1996. High quality customer service and maximum uptime are just small parts of the huge range of services offered by the company. High quality server environment, control panel and security features add up to the services rendered by this company. The reliability offered by this company has provided beneficial over the time. Both company and its clients are benefited by the wide array of services.

Along with the basic services, Bluehost provides:

* Plug-ins for scripts such as forum, polls and serveys, moodle, nuke, and Tikiwiki along with many others.

* E-commerce availability with shipping cart, shopping cart, and a password protection on their directories along with other features.

* Their list includes multimedia functions and top technology.

4. RackSpace Inc: This company is based in the UK and registered there as Rackspace Ltd. It began in 1996 and never looked back. They are known as one of the most exceptional companies in Europe. Their client roster includes many large companies including: Confused.com, The Army Renault, OnSpeed, Vue, and Renault. Rackspace was included in 'The Sunday Times' list of 2007 best companies.

* Solutions for business of all sizes provided by

* Provides managed configuration and green configuration services

* Visualization

* Excellent security services

* Email functions

* Backup

* Backup storage systems

* Administration and reports

5. Godaddy.com: This is also ranked as one of the top rating hosting service providers. The services rendered by this company are simply authentic and flexible. This company also has a few awards in their list which signify their prominence in the competitive web hosting market. They lure clients with ample discounts that can always be of great help. The services rendered by this company are same as that of any other big web hosting company, but the specialty is the discounts and promotional offers.

A sample of the services offered by this company are:

* Exciting 20% discount on package deals

* Expanded websites also qualify for discounts along with web designers

* Servers for hosting

* Functions for business and e-commerce

* Websites for both commerce and business

* Privacy auction and

* Reseller services