Many hosting providers may try to sway you with talk of the very high bandwidth levels they allow you and the massive amount of disk space but don't base your decision solely on this factor. The truth is over 90% of sites on Shared Web Hosting never get anywhere near there bandwidth levels, with a large number using less than a tenth their limit.
Type host operating system: If your website is based on technologies such as JSP, ASP, etc, and require others, to complement or Microsoft MSACCESS MS SQL database that should go for windows hosting. On the other hand, if the user is using technologies like cold fusion, then you can run on Linux and Windows platform.
The selection of platform and database engine is connected. If your web host offers hosting on the Linux platform, the script language is PHP and the database is MySQL. For Windows based hosting, ASP/.NET and MSSQL is often used. Unless you are a programmer with special demands in regard to platform, this selection doesn't matter much to you. More web hosts offer Linux hosting because it is cheaper, hence Affordable Web Hosting.
Paper checks are also an option with some hosting companies. The only drawback to this option is that you have to physically mail in a check each month. If your check is lost in the mail or arrives too late the hosting company can take your site down until the payment is received. Down time can harm your site's reputation and can lead to lost business or revenue.
Web Host Country - Depending on your market, this could be the most important consideration, and often the most overlooked. The physical location of your host servers can have an impact on your business if your target market is in your own country. Google UK, for example offer the option of either a UK only or a world-wide search. If you want to feature in the UK only searches it is far better to have your website hosted by a company who has its actual servers in the UK. Be aware that some Shared Web Hosting UK hosting companies who appear to be UK based companies actually have their servers located in other countries. Always ask!
The range of pricing and features included in web hosting packages are pretty wide. You will want a fair balance of features and quality that will suit your needs. As with any other product, cheap usually gets less quality. On the other hand some pricing can be exorbitant without any special value.
To help you decide on the type of package to avail yourself of, visit some review sites that feature the best affordable web hosting service providers out there. These kinds of sites point out the differences among the web hosting companies so you can make a smart decision. You can also check out some technological forums and participate in the discussions because this is where you are likely to get professional advice from the experts themselves.