Today’s businesses know that the pervasiveness of the Internet has revolutionized commerce. It’s not enough anymore to have a well-kept, well-stocked store with a good-looking sign out front. Any business that doesn’t have a “virtual storefront” in the form of its own web site is practically invisible to the rest of the world.

In the earliest days of the Internet, any business that wanted its own web site had to have computers and technicians. In the past decade or so, web hosting services have sprung up everywhere, from the biggest data centers to a couple of spare computers in somebody’s basement. So how does a business pick a reliable service for its needs?

Most small-to-medium size businesses can have well-run economical web hosting service through a connection known as “shared hosting.” In this situation the business’ web site shares computer space with other customers of the hosting service. Companies need to look at four main factors when choosing shared web hosting: disk space (data storage), bandwidth (data transfer rate), uptime (reliability), and technical support. If you want to learn more then go to our web hosting faq page.

To evaluate these features according to the needs of the business, owners and managers need to ask a key question: Why are we getting a web site? This fundamental question helps determine what type of web site to set up, such as an ecommerce site with a shopping cart that will sell products, as opposed to a more “billboard” or informational site that will simply provide information and possibly set up client appointments. Knowing what kind of site the company needs will then enable its leaders to decide how much disk space and bandwidth are needed, along with uptime and tech support to make sure the site is readily available to customers.

For reviews of some of the best shared hosting providers right now read our web hosting reviews