Are you an experienced webmaster with hundreds of websites online or a newbie who wants to build some sites seriously and join the bandwagon? Whatever be the case, one thing which you will need to have your websites online is a web hosting service. A shared hosting plan is perfect for starters or webmasters with low to medium traffic sites. Read on and I promise you a wealth of information which should help you extremely in choosing the perfect shared web hosting package to suit your needs... Basics: What Is Shared Web Hosting?
Shared web hosting service can be compared to a shared cab where a number of passengers use the same vehicle by paying a relatively lower fare. Similarly, in case of shared web hosting, the server's resources are distributed among the accounts for a cheap and affordable monthly fee. You get a predefined chunk of disk space, a fixed monthly bandwidth or transfer quota and a control panel to manage your hosting account Factors That Matter Now let's take a look at the top tips... » Disk Space
Most shared web hosting plans now offer more than 5GB disk space and that should be more than enough for most. » Technical / General Support
This is one of the most important factors while choosing a shared web hosting plan. Does the shared web hosting service offer live chat, ticket based or email based support? Does the shared web hosting company have a toll free number and able support representatives? What is the shared web hosting company’s average turnaround time? Do they provide support 24x7 in your language? These are the questions you should ask them initially. » Hosting Features
For your website and scripts to function properly, your shared web hosting features should be compliant. What scripting language and database options does it offer? PHP, ASP.NET, Perl, MySQL, MSSQL, Linux or Windows? - Which of them do you want? Also check what control panels they are offering and try a demo to make sure you are comfortable with it. How many FTP, email, databases, sub domains, parked and add-on domains do they offer and does that satisfy your needs? Web stats monitoring is also essential. » Monthly Bandwidth
For low to medium traffic websites, a limit of 100GB per month is considered good. Though most shared web hosting now offers more bandwidth than that. » Server Performance & Uptime
Ask or check the specifications of the server they are putting you on. Does the shared web hosting have ample CPU power and RAM to handle the load? How many accounts do the shared web hosting companies put on a single box? Do the shared web hosting services extremely oversell? Also, the server location plays an important role. Get a US server or hosting co. if your primary audience is US as low ping times mean faster page serving. Don't forget to consider their guaranteed uptime. It should be in the 99.99% figure. » Effective Monthly Price
Keep in mind that a real cheap monthly price does not essentially mean bad and a higher pricing means good. You should essentially look for a mix of features and value for money. Most shared web hosting companies charge a reduced fee if bought for a year or half yearly. So, it's good to go for a term longer than 1 or 3 months.... The ideal range for shared web hosting is from $5 / month to $15 / month. Also look for some money saving coupons floating on the net!
If you have gone through these little but useful tips above, you can be assured that you are not far away from making a really good and sweet shared web hosting deal. Go ahead and choose your shared web hosting company confidently! | 
