Major Features of Web Hosting

Storage
You need to know if your web host offers enough disk space. If you plan to host a small sized website with few graphics and html coding, 500 to 10000 MB of disk space might be quite sufficient.

Bandwidth
Bandwidth determines the amount of data transfer you are allowed per month. This would be determined by the level of traffic that you are expecting to attract to your website. Bandwidth of 1GB can support more than 3000 unique visitors, which should be sufficient for a small web business.

Pop email
If you are running a web business, you would need pop3 email facilities. This means that you can have an email address of your own domain. You don't need a lot of email addresses for a small website, but "unlimited aliases" feature allows you to have unlimited versions of email addresses going to the same email box. This makes it easier for you to filter your email. For example: order@domain.com for order related emails etc.

Free or paid
Should you pay for your web host or choose a free one? However, if you use a paid web host, you would have full control over the content of your website with no third party advertising. This would also create a more professional and reliable image of your web business.

CGI, MySQL, PHP, ASP
If you want to run interactive scripts (counters, form-to-mail, guest books) on your website you will need a CGI-BIN in your web hosting server. If you want your website to have a data base (mailing list, message boards) you would need php and MySQL facilities. ASP is also a data base related format that works with Windows servers.

Support
It is essential for a web host to give 24 hours customer support and address any problems of the customer immediately. You can check out the level of their support by emailing them before you setup an account with them. They should respond within 24 hours and answer all your questions in a satisfactory manner.

Cost
You can expect to pay anywhere from $7.75 to $20 for hosting a small website. If you are lucky, you can find a web host who will fulfill all your requirements at a reasonable price that suits your budget.

Uptime
Your web host should guarantee 99% uptime for your website. You can determine this by contacting some of their current customers. Some web hosts have a list of their customers on their website. If a list is not available, you can contact them and ask for testimonials from current customers about their level of service.
Try to choose your web host carefully, as having a reliable and efficient web host would help immensely in the success of your web business.

Control Panel
Different webhosts tend to use different control panels. Although they might look and feel different, they usually accomplish the same type of tasks. Some popular control panels are Sphera, CPanel, Plesk, Ensim's WEBppliance, and Zervex DSM.

Paid Back Warrant
You must read their "terms and conditions" and "Paid Back Warrent" terms before signing up.

Kitty Chuk - Web Hosting Expert. She is working on web hosting field more than 5 years.
website - http://www.pickto.net
Website Title - Top 5 web hosting report