Web pages (html) are normally very small - on average 40 - 50KB. This means you can store a lot of web pages in a small amount of diskspace. Images take up more space, but unless you have a big database driven site - it is unlikely that you will need very much disk space. Below is terminology used to describe disk space. If you have a computer at home or the office, then you will be already very familiar with this.

• 1 Byte 1 character. This sentence is 25 bytes
• 1 KB 1000 Bytes
• 1 MB 1000 KB
• 1 GB 1000 MB

Bandwidth is always stated as a monthly limit in either MB or GB. This is the amount of actual data that can be transferred from the web server that holds your website, to the browser of the person who is looking at your website. If you go over the limit, then either you will have to be an extra fee, or your website will not be available. The amount of bandwidth you use is obviously related to the amount of traffic (visitors) that you receive.

There are web hosting companies that offer Unlimited bandwidth. This sounds like a good deal. The truth is that this is nothing but a lie and you should steer clear of web hosting companies that offer unlimited bandwidth. Bandwidth is a commodity that costs the web hosting company money - unlimited bandwidth is not only impossible, but would cost an unlimited amount of money. When web hosts offer unlimited bandwidth they are trying to trick you. They know that you will probably not use very much bandwidth. The moment you try to use a lot of bandwidth - then you will find your website shutdown.

For most web sites you will not need much bandwidth. Probably 99% of all websites use less than 2 GB of bandwidth a month. If you intend to have a lot of downloads of software, audio or video, then you may end up using a lot more bandwidth, maybe 50 GB. Adult sites typically use a lot of bandwidth. Sites like mp3.com require an enormous amount of bandwidth, but for the average site - a low level will be enough in almost all cases.

The calculator below will help you determine what amount of bandwidth you might need. This assumes a simple web site with no audio or video downloads. Remember 1GB = 1000 MB (eg 0.75 GB = 750 MB)

3. Email Accounts

4. Support

You need to ask yourself questions like do you want phone support, or will email support be ok? Do you want support 24 hours a day? If you have a small website that is not critical (i.e you don't pay your mortgage with website earnings) then you probably don't need phone support or 24/7 support. It costs web hosting companies to provide this type of support, don't pay more for a plan that offers this if you don't need it.

5. Server Type

If you have a small website, then it is unlikely that you will need to select a particular type of server for your website. Windows 2000 server web hosting tends to be a little bit more expensive than Linux. If you need to run a Microsoft SQL server database, or use Microsoft Active Server pages then you should choose Windows2000. If you have no clue what these things even are - then you don't need Windows2000 - you will almost certainly be fine with any type of server.

6. Other Features like Databases, Server Side Scripting

Web hosting plans can offer a myriad of confusing features. For the small website it is unlikely that you will ever need to know about any of them. If you are a web designer creating complex database driven sites then you will already know what you need. If after creating your site you have never heard of ASP, ColdFusion, SQL Server, mySQL - then chances are that you don't need to worry about any of these things. If you plan to add a message board to your website then you will need a mySQL database. This is the most common database used with discussion boards.

There are many web hosting directories on the web. They all claim to be great resources. For the most part they are great resources...for the web hosting companies, but not for you, the web hosting consumer. Almost all of these web hosting directories are a place where web hosting companies advertise and they are in business only to generate advertising income from hosting companies. For the consumer they are worthless because you can not find any unbiased information. These advertising based web hosting directories have list of recommendations, top 25 lists, platinum lists etc...they are all just advertising lists similar to the ads in junk mail that might arrive through your mail slot. Avoid these sites, they have no value because you cannot trust any information you will find in them.

WebHosting Top10 has no advertising and no hosting company can buy an unfair advantage. When you do a search we return a list of web hosting plans that all match your search criteria that you can then evaluate. Read ratings from other customers, check real-time reliability numbers, look at other sites they host, check out their website and compare plans side by side with other plans.