Whether you are planning to start a blog, forum, board, e-commerce or any other type of website, selection of the right web host plays an important role. One wrong decision and you are in for a deep trouble.

Here are some sample problems you may invite yourself by selecting a wrong web host:

• After designing 3 pages of your website, when you move on to add a fourth one, your web host says you’ll have to pay additional charges for that.
• When you’re about to install WordPress, the famous blogging software, you realise that your web host does not support the required version of PHP or MySQL.
• You want to install WordPress or any other software using Fantastico. But no such automatic installation software is available on your web hosting control panel.
• Your website goes on and off several times a day.
• By the time your website loads, your visitors move on to some other website.

What should you look for in a web hosting account?

• Server uptime : Your website should be accessible 24×7.
• Mirrored storage backup: You should be able to take periodic backup of your website from the web hosting control panel.
• Unlimited disk storage & monthly data transfer: What if the number of visitors to your website goes up from 100 per day to 1000 per day? Will you go hunting for another web host? Why should you accept any restriction as to the storage space, number of web pages or the amount of data transfer?
• Auto installation of software: Your web hosting control panel should be equipped with auto-installation software like Fantastico and SimpleScripts. These software help you install your preferred software at the click of the mouse. For example, while installing WordPress with my previous web host, I was stuck up at creating MySQL database. With my current web host, I did it in seconds using Fantastico.
• Support for CGI / database: Your web host should support the latest versions of CGI / database such as PHP & MySQL. Some of the important programs don’t run without these. For example, WordPress requires PHP version 4.3 or higher and MySQL version 4.0 or greater.
• Email accounts: You will require them while setting up official communication channels for your website. A good web host should provide you at least a thousand free POP / webmail accounts.
• No hidden fees: Be careful with this. You may end up paying left and right.

So which web host does eZaroorat recommend?

While reviewing a product or service, we look out for a perfect trade-off between price and quality. To the extent possible, we try to test the product or service ourselves. However, please bear in mind that it’s not possible for anybody to test each and every product out there in the market. Further, personal needs and choices of each of us vary.

That being said, now let us tell you that we have shorlisted 3 great web hosts for you. Just 3 web hosts.. to keep the confusion at bare minimum.

Hostgator

Unlimited disk space
Unlimited bandwidth
Unlimited websites
99.9% uptime guarantee
cPanel hosting
Click here for more details

Bluehost

WordPress auto-install
99% uptime guarantee
Mirrored storage backup
Free blog, forum, board
Free eCommerce / cart
Click here for more details

Justhost

Unlimited GB of space
Unlimited GB of transfer
Unlimited domain hosting
Unlimited email accounts
Unlimited MySQL databases
Click here for more details

Should I go for a domestic web host or an international one?

My personal experience with local web hosts, even the reputed ones, has not been so good.  So, if you are from a country which does not host any international web host, I would, in all sincerity advise you to go in for an international web host located in some other country. Physical location of the web host hardly matters since everything would be done over internet. However, check out for a proper email or chat support just in case…

Hope, you found this article useful. Go ahead and make your online presence felt. All the best!