Choosing a provider to host your website isn’t simple anymore. These days there are so many hosting companies it can make your head spin just thinking about it. And that’s before you start looking at them.

So, is there an easy way to choose? Well, no. But I can make it logical by building a list of features and benefits to look for in a good webhost. And there are quite a few comparison sites to help you too.

If you want my personal opinion and you are based in the UK, then I recommend 1and1 hosting. They are competitively priced and during the 4 years I have used them, my sites are always quick to load with no downtime.

Here is my shopping list,

• Recommendations - are they recommended by comparison webites and trusted webhost authorities, such as host review. Although personal recommendation is always best
• Reliability - what is their ‘uptime’ as a percentage? It should be 99.9% at least. Do they have a data centre, high speed Internet connections and how many years have they been in business?
• Support - 365/7/24 technical phone support would be the best option. And you don’t want to pay premium rate phone charges either. How helpful are their support people? Try them out. Ask some questions.
• Features - look at their range of features, functionality and software. Here is where comparison sites, such as the hosting chart, are really useful as you can compare what each service provides.
• Specialisation - webhosts often have different areas of specialisation, for example, I choose AN hosting for this blog because they were recommended, provide tools for blogs and host thousands of blogs.
• Price - there are a variety of pricing plans based on the site type; personal, business, ecommerce, developer. Only you can decide how much you are prepared to pay. Don’t just choose the cheapest.
• Control panel - what kind of control panel does the hosting company use. Is it easy to use and give you access to all the features without requiring you to be a techie?

These are the criteria I consider when choosing. It works for me. Take your time and don’t be rushed into a decision. Choosing a host is like a marriage. And if you are running a web business, it’s even more crucial.

But if you can get one, a personal recommendation is always best.