If you are a website owner, manager, or webmaster, take the time to review the different hosts and server scenarios available to you. There are a plethora of different hosting companies out there-use the attached checklist to make sure you don’t get swindled!

This article is a great resource to get started, and applies to smaller web businesses. Larger web businesses will consist of more advanced schemas which are outside the scope of this article.

Download the spreadsheet here: Web-Hosting-Checklist

Define Your Hosting Needs
The first step in the hunt for the perfect host is to be clear in what you actually need. For all intensive purposes, you are probably going to need either a dedicated or shared server. Choosing a server type is beyond the scope of this article, but for a frame of reference:

Dedicated Server
A dedicated server is usually managed and maintained by your hosting provider. That is, in many cases, your host will provide support for the server hardware, and sometimes, the software. However, you will have sole control over the server, as it is not used for any other purposes other than your own. You can usually install whatever software is needed, and configure the server based upon your specific requirements. As opposed to a shared server, where your website will be competing for the same processing power as hundreds or even thousands of other websites. This option is going to be more costly, although the benefits include control and scalability.

Shared Hosting
Shared hosting makes up the majority of hosting providers out there-it is the bread and butter of the hosting world. Most Software as a Service applications (Yahoo Stores, Volusion, MonsterCart, etc…) are shared hosting providers. And many of the low cost hosting plans are based off of shared servers. You are sharing a server with various other websites, and are limited to what you can do, which why it is more economical. Although, many larger companies that are utilizing a shared server approach have a sophisticated architecture with multiple redundant servers. This means that if one server should fail, another will pick up where the failed one left off.

There are also collocated servers where you have full responsibility of the hardware and software, and are simply renting rack space, electricity and bandwidth.

Beyond the type of server you’re going to need, define what the actual requirements will be on a software, hardware, and support basis. Perform some research to find the answers to the items in the checklist before you start contacting hosting providers. This will ensure you have a clear set of requirements available for an accurate quote from each provider.

Find Hosting Providers to Contact
Other than your typical Google search; I would recommend the following hosting specific forums:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/

http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=96

It is going to be challenging to find a quality host at a low price. Quality meaning they have an SLA for: response time on tickets, outages, and hardware replacement. They should also guarantee an uptime of at least 99.999%, which means your server can be down for about 5 minutes a year (this does not usually account for scheduled maintenance).

Another great resource to learn of higher end hosting providers is to use the Gartner Magic Quadrant

Take care to add your own requirement specific questions to the list (Web-Hosting-Checklist), and compare the answers to find the best provider for your needs.