This is a critical step in creating your website. You need to choose a host that will meet your needs, provide you with enough storage space, has useful features (like built in automatic installers, databases, file backup, WYSWIG editors, ect). You definitely dont want to be stuck with a host that is unreliable, or is too simple or too complex! Maybe most importantly: free or really, really cheap!

When choosing a host, look for these qualities:

1. Banner and Ad Free!

there is nothing worse than having your website with a host who plasters ugly ads and annoying pop-ups all over your website! If the host does not have "ad free" web pages, don’t even bother looking. These often are on the top, left and right, and bottom of your page, take up valuable space, are full of audio and seizure causing graphics, and take away from the "look and feel" of your site. Did I mention they are really annoying?

An ad free host is essential. Unless your getting paid to have that crap on your site, there is no reason to settle for having ads on your website. Bannerless and ad-free hosting is available on quality free host providers. So don’t worry about having to shell out $$$ to have advertisement-free space.

2. Servers!

A "server" is what keeps your site online and viewable to the world. A good server will load your page quickly, and have minimal downtime. If you have free hosting service, a quality server is key for a good website. Paid hosting comes with dedicated servers with first priority so you’re pretty much guaranteed to have 99.9% up time. Free hosting is a little more tricky. If you choose a free host that hosts too many sites on their servers (think stuffing 10 people in a bathroom stall) or does not have enough capacity, will have more downtime. So when people visit your site all they see it "cannot display webpage" or "www.yoursite.com is unavailable come back later"   and could cause your site to load very slowly.

It is important to choose a host with adequate servers. "clustered servers" is a relatively new hosting technology that delivers quality results. Look for information on their site about their server "up time" and other details. If you can’t find any information about their servers, or the site lacks any technical details about their hardware that’s a major red flag and beware. Good hosts will proudly display their quality servers with detailed information.

3. Feature Rich User Panel!

When you begin to create web pages, you need a host that gives you lots of tools to get the job done! Imagine trying to create a dynamic website with only a few basic tools. Or maybe worse yet, confined you to predetermined layouts you can’t customize. You need something that will create exactly what you have in your mind, not force you to work around a poorly designed "website creator" or lacking in tools to achieve what you want.

A good host will give you a wide array of tools to make your site. Let you make your own layouts from scratch, and also give you a "template creator" or "website builder". They will cater to the needs of all web designers  by offering very simple tools, to advanced, to completely free-form.

Look for features like: WYSIWIG editors, FTP accounts, MySQL & PHP, File Manager, Script Installers, Vista Panel, ect...

4. Databases, Disk Space And Transfer Data Limits!

This is an often overlooked detail to new website creators, but its an important detail that deserves some looking into before you decided to sign up with a host. If you happen to sign up with a host and exceed the limits you've been given, your pretty much SOL with that host unless you upgrade to paid service. Otherwise, you'll be forced to move to a different host. Which can cause loss of important files, hours of hard work wasted, and loss of site traffic if you lose your URL or is changed when you go to a different provider.

Think about what you'll be creating. Will your website be full of images, music, video, or do you plan on having lots of different pages on your site? Then Database and Disk Space will be an important consideration. Transfer data is for what a visitor collectively takes from your site. Accumulated from file downloads offered on your site, surfing through multiple pages...anything on your site that can be viewed or downloaded. The more complex your website is, the more transfer data space you'll need. Is your site going to be smallish and simple, or bigger with lots of pages, or offer content to your viewers? All things to think about when thinking of signing up with a host.

and finally:

5. The Eternal Debate: To Pay Or Not To Pay!

This is usually a pretty clear answer in your mind when you decide to make a website. It's either: "hell no I aint paying for a host! Why pay when I can get it for free?" Or: "Its really important my website is the best it can be. Im cool with paying a few dollars for that."

Of course, it's not necessary to have paid hosting. Plently of awesome websites have free hosting. The key difference between having free hosting and needing paid hosting is this: reaching your bandwidth limit. Once your website is getting lots of new and returning visitors who are reading and downloading your content, it eats up your bandwidth and the servers, which can cause your page to crash or be blocked for violating your limit. Paid hosting is a must when your site is growing; but thats also something to celebrate! paid hosting means your creation is a success, and thats definetly something worthy of a small investment! Paid hosting plans that come with increased or unlimited bandwidth can be obtained for just one dollar to a few dollars a month!

Finding a good host with great free hosting and paid hosting ensures that your site will be supported for the long haul, through all the stages of creation and growth. Starting your own website is exciting and fun! Made all the easier when you choose a host that will fit your needs and provides really great service. ♥