If you are new to web hosting you may be confused by the types of website hosting services available and the numerous suppliers to choose from.

To keep it as simple as possible, for most people a basic shared hosting Linux package is what you need. Shared hosting means that many user’s web sites are hosted on a single server. There are disadvantages to this but it has the overwhelming advantage of providing website hosting services at a very low price.

Unless you confidently expect your site to become very busy very quickly shared hosting is the best way to start. You can always upgrade later if necessary. The exception might be if you are setting up an eCommerce site (i.e. selling things) when you might think the better security provided by VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting is worthwhile.

Linux is the operating system that powers most of the web (i.e. most web servers use it). The alternative is Windows hosting which is offered by many website hosting services, often at a slightly higher price. You would use this if it is required by the tools you will use to build your site i.e. you would know if you need windows hosting. If you are planning to use WordPress to power your site you should use Linux hosting.

When choosing between website hosting services you should look at:

The Service Provided – You want your site to be easy to set-up, have the pages load quickly for visitors and have minimal downtime. You should look for recent comments from users of potential hosts to see how that host is performing. No host can offer 100% uptime but many guarantee 99.9%+. What you don’t want is to see complains about unexplained downtime lasting hours (or even days).

The Support Provided – I have looked through lots of user comments/reviews on website hosting services and it is clear that poor support is the reason for the great majority of complaints. Support staff not being interested or just giving stock answers annoys customers but good support generates praise even if the company was in error in the first place.

Good support is particularly important for users new to hosting as it is easy to get stuck on something that would be obvious to more experienced user. Once again you need to search for user reviews to see how a potential website hosting service is performing.

The Price & Terms – Only once you are happy with the service and support should you look at price. At this point it is reasonable to go for the cheapest. However be careful to check the cancellation policy if you are signing up for a long period. It is much cheaper to do this but you want a refund if you need to cancel before the end of the term.

You will notice that I have not mentioned what is included in the package. This is because most packages include everything that a new user is likely to need. Most now include unlimited resources (bandwidth, disk space) and where limits are set they are unlikely to be an issue in the short term,

Of the many website hosting services available our recommendation is presently HostGator as they meet the above criteria at a good price.

Click Here to see the latest HostGator Coupon Codes (to reduce your first invoice).