Back in 1999, it cost my business more than US$30 per month to host a website. Today, it can cost less than US$3 per month to host the same website. In today's world, it will probably cost a business more for not having a web presence, due to lost of customers to the competitors. To choose a hosting for a start-up or new business, you will have to understand the basic needs and requirements of your website.

The basic needs of a website can be categorized into 5 main items: storage, bandwidth, mailbox, webmaster tools and tech-support.

File Storage – Your start-up business probably just need a small website with a handful of pages and only a couple of pictures per page. From usability stand-point, a few images per page are more than enough. You should be able to get by with 5-10 MB (megabytes) of disk space or less. However, if your site contains dozens of pages and hundreds of pictures, you may need more space, maybe 10 to 50 MB of space.

Bandwidth – Bandwidth or data transfer stands for the total amount of traffic the host allows you to receive. 5 to 8 MB will be enough if you target to receive not more than 100 unique users per day. Be very careful when a web host declares in their package that they are giving you 'unlimited' bandwidth. There is a catch and there must be some kind of limit. No hosting can afford an unlimited bandwidth.

Email / Mailboxes – The number of mailboxes you require will depend on how many staff you have for your business. If you are doing an online business and you are the only worker, a hosting that allows for 5 email aliases should be more than enough. However, most hosting companies already offer unlimited email aliases. Moreover, you probably want to make sure their email service can support auto-responder and email forwarding. An auto-responder is a program that responds with a pre-written email automatically after having received an email. That should help you automate some email-replying tasks. 'Email forwarding' is an excellent function if you want to have emails forwarded to your favorite email address, maybe the one you already been using.

Website Tools - Three most useful tools you can have from a web hosting are the 'control panel', 'visit/usage statistics' and CGI. Control panel will allow you to manage your hosting, files, pages, quotas and more from a single panel. CGI allows you to run scripts and while 'usage statistics' will show you who came to your site and when. However, more recently, more and more people are using PHP scripts rather than CGI.

Tech Support – As you are new to hosting and maintaining a website, you should get a hosting with a reputable tech support. A good measure is by checking reviews by other people or by recommendation by others. You want a hosting that can give responses within few hours. We've had some experience with hosting companies that reply to emails after few days.

Conclusion
With cost of web hosting going down everyday, there is no excuse for any type of business to not have an internet presence. If you are starting-up your business, be it a conventional brick-and-mortar business or a less conventional one such as internet start-up, you can cut your overhead further by understanding your web hosting needs.

We recommend these hostings for any business wanting the success with their own web address:
1. ICD Soft - http://www.icdsoft.com/?aff=mycontest.article
2. Lunar pages - http://www.lunarpages.com/?id=azhan
3. Easy CGI - http://www.easycgi.com/shared_hosting/?kbid=4381

You can read our review about a few web hosting companies that is most suitable for your start-up business or even for your own personal use at: http://www.mindamadani.com/resources/best-budget-web-hosting-review.html
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Azhan is a web developer with more than 10 years experience in web development and internet usability. He has a MS in Information Technology with a concentration on Human Computer Interaction (HCI). You can visit his website at www.azhan.com