What do I look for in a hosting company ?

This is the one of the singular most common yet important question. The main reason is that web masters are comparing all the WRONG Specifications with different hosting companies as nearly two thirds of what is usually offered is totally not useful to webmaster. The most common things to look for when you are hosting a small business or personal site are :

Email accounts Try to give every employees you currently have within your office, including future personal explanation plans.

Easy & Quick Setup Should be less than 5 hours, as some company take up to 48 hours to set up a new account.

Sufficient Data Transfer This is the most misunderstood specifications of web hosting, technically speaking most sites just only need about 1 GB. Yes, I know what you are thinking, that's right !

Uptime Guarantee This is very important. If they aren't offering it, they can't guarantee it which is a bad sign. A 98% Uptime Guarantee or above is deem to be average.

Sufficient Disk Storage Space Most sites only need up to 50 MB, so don't be greedy or are enticed by the seller providing over the top storage as you won't need it & are just paying for nothing !)

24/7 Live Support Good to have, but not necessary if you are just beginning to built your website empire as you will have to pay more for this, but it comes in real handy if you site is down ! Live chat usually works just as good as phone support.

Can I switch hosting companies if I don't like their services ?

YES, off course. Who is there to stop you from do so ?

Unfortunately, there are many people whom do not realize how easy it is to switch hosting companies. All you have to do is re-publish your site to the new address for the new hosting company. Most hosting companies will give you your new IP address where you can publish your site in as little as 10-20 minutes !

Just publish your site, and don't forget to update your name servers. This just means that you will have to go to the company where you purchased your domain name, and put in the name servers that the new hosting company have. Your domain name will point to your new hosting account in about 24 - 48 hours. Also, you will need to create your new email addresses at the new hosting company. That's it !

So, don't feel like you are stuck with a bad hosting company. Because you're not.

Do I have to buy my domain name with my hosting account ?

No & Yes.

No, you can buy your domain name anytime. So, don't loose the domain name you want just because you are researching hosting companies. Buy that now.

But, don't pay more than $20/year since that is the average price these days.

Yes, if you have not initially purchase it already.

If you purchase domain name & hosting account together, some company whom offered both these services may at their own discretion provide a better deals or discount.