The first thing that you must think about before selecting a web host is how big you expect it to grow along the way. Of course, you can take the "safe" road and opt to start off with a small hosting package that offers you enough bandwidth to support a good 1,000 visitors per month. A few dollars a month will get you what you need.
There are also free web hosting providers out there. Most will give you a space on their servers for you to build your website. Minimal tools will be available for you to set up your personal site or blog. And the vast majority only want their ads to feature within your site in exchange.
But you can also opt to believe that your site can become a success. It all depends on what you intend for your website. A simple html-based personal site requires nothing more than a starter's web hosting package. You will have more than enough bandwidth to hold your site and take on your visitors.
How do you calculate the amount of bandwidth you need? Imagine your biggest page is 100kb. Now imagine your site will be visited by 100 visitors per day. This means that each visitor will use up 100kb of your total monthly bandwidth. This is the simplest form of calculation. Once you have that number, you can then look at the different plans offered by a web host.
To be sure your calculations are valid, always think big. This is particularly valid if you intend to include, for example, a photo album, a forum, or even videos. You may only be building a site for friends and family, but the world wide web is an open universe.
Imagine if someone finds your site and likes one of your articles, or one of your photos. Imagine, for example, that a video you publish catches the attention of a websurfer who then publishes your link in Digg or in YouTube. If its that good, your site can be bombarded with a few thousand visitors in the space of an hour or two! If your bandwidth isn't enough to withstand so many visitors, your site will crash and you will loose the opportunity to promote your site to a huge audience. Don't be afraid of thinking big. Starting off with a mid-sized package may not be a bad idea. This way, you'll be safe if a sudden surge of visitors are directed to your site unexpectedly.
About 2 years ago, I had this very problem. An article I wrote caught someone's attention. It was linked from Digg unexpectedly. I was not prepared for this and within a few hours my site crashed. I made a frantic attempt to contact my web hosting provider for help. I was advised to upgrade to a more robust web hosting plan, which i did. But the time required to do this meant that I lost the momentum. By the time my site was back online, my visitors had withered away. It could have been the beginning of something beautiful. I could have earned some serious money from my Google AdSense ads, and I could have expanded my mailing list. My site could have become an overnight success. But alas, I was not prepared and lost the opportunity.
The Web Hosting team at WebHostCircuit is made up of website owners, website and design professionals. Together, the team boasts years of online experie
