I know it's tough to believe, but hosting can be a little complicated sometimes. The key to getting the right hosting package is to maintain focus, ask the right questions, and again, maintain focus.

What is hosting? Simply put, it is the storage and service of your website. You store your site on your host's server, and they become the gatekeeper. Whenever someone types the address of your website into their internet browser, they are actually going to your hosting company's server, where they are then shown the site.

Questions to ask yourself:
How much do you want to pay?
As you may have guessed, the cost of hosting packages vary greatly. Hosting prices can range anywhere from $20 to several hundred annually, depending on the type of site you are hosting and the sacrifices you are comfortable making. For the most part, if you are running the average website for a small to mid-sized business, you should anticipate a cost of $5-$25 a month for hosting. Be aware that some companies charge one-time setup fees, and some will charge you to change your hosting plan (if you get one that you later decide is larger or smaller than what you need). Reliable hosting is available with no catches and no surprises, if you just know where to look.

What level of customer service are you going to need?
One of the biggest distinctions between expensive hosting and affordable hosting is the customer service. As you may have guessed, many of the least expensive hosting companies operate overseas. The cost tradeoff for this is that the customer service agents at such places are traditionally non-native English speakers. Their replies to your questions or problems will typically come in the form of pre-written emails or responses straight from a trouble-shooting book. It might also be difficult for you to clearly articulate what your problem is given that you're probably not the most tech savvy person, and they may not necessarily understand the terms you are using to describe your problem. While it will be rare for you to need to contact your host for support, when you do need to, it is usually an emergency, and having to spell out the problem over several emails may prove time consuming.

How much traffic do you anticipate?
Let's be realistic. As a small to medium sized business, you're probably not going to have 100,000 hits in your first month of operation and probably not even in your first year. That in mind, it doesn't make sense to pay for a huge amount of traffic. So just how do you translate that into a hosting package? Well it can be tricky. You have to come to a rough estimate of how large your site will be, then figure out how many hits that will allow you and decide if that's an acceptable number.

Say you have a hosting package that has 10 MB (megabytes) of storage and 1GB (gigabyte) monthly data transfer (1 gigabyte is 1000 megabytes).

In English, that means you can store up to 10 MB of files on your server, and up to 1GB of stuff can move back and forth across the pipe leading to your website. But 10 Megabytes is huge. To give you some sense of how much space that is, every page and file that makes up this site combined takes up less than 1/2 MB. And since not everyone will look at every single thing on your site...well you get the drift. It's a game of rough estimates.

Another thing to be aware of is daily traffic limits. Though you might have 1GB a month of data transfer, some companies divide that up into 31 parts, so you actually only have about 30 MB a day for each of the 31 days. It might not sound like a lot, but it really is.

What sort of extras will you need?
Two of the basic necessities in any hosting package are pre-installed scripts and Email. Anything on your site that requires the user to input information and hit a 'submit' button is powered by a script housed on your server. You want to be sure that your server allows you to store and use such scripts. Scripts can also power extra features like bulletin boards, shopping carts or chat rooms. Many hosts offer common scripts pre-installed, so you don't have to worry about configuring or uploading them yourself.

Email is the other fun perk of hosting. If you're running a business, you'll want an email address (or several) that match your website. No more you@yahoo.com, it's time for you@yourOwnDomain.com. Different hosting packages allow for different number of email accounts. If you don't want to use a program like Outlook Express to get your mail, you'll also want to make sure your host offers Web-based email (email you can check in a browser, from anywhere, sort of like Hotmail).

Above and beyond those two key elements, everything else is a bonus. Depending on what sort of site you are running, you might need a Secure Server, or additional FTP accounts, or Frontpage extensions. These are areas in which your designer can offer guidance. Since they're putting together your site, they'll know what sort of hosting package you need. If you don't already have a host, ask your designer for advice.

Who does your designer recommend?
The easiest way to find the right specs for your hosting package is simply to ask the person designing the site. When you do ask your designer for hosting recommendations, be certain to find out if there are any specifics that you'll need in a host (such as special features). Find out who they're hosting with, and what size package they think you might need. It's also possible that they'll have no idea, as not everyone who designs actually manages sites.

What questions should you ask?

• Is there a setup fee?
• What's the monthly cost?
• Any discount for paying yearly instead of monthly?
• Any penalty for changing to a different plan later?
• What about cancelling altogether?
• How many email addresses do I get?
• What scripts come pre-installed?
• Cost of additional bandwidth or storage space?