Here is a checklist for selecting a web hosting company for your small business. Take it as a template for the questions you need to ask the issues you need to check. Switching a company is not easy - it's better to ask those questions in advance then being disappointed.

Quality Service

• What's the response time?
• Do they offer real-time support using chat?
• Do they offer phone support? In which hours?
• Listed price for extra services or all included.
• Availabilty of script installation services?
• Do they actively push security updates to your customers? Do they get an alert when a critical update arrives?
• Do they have a support knowledgebase online? (Take a look).
• Do they have an active community of users? (Take a look at the forums of the web hosting company. Are they active? Do they have a god community of users which provide answers? Are the answers easy to read, or too technical?)

Best Value for Price

• Listed price for extra services? (like in HostRocket.Com Website Hosting).
• Flexible Payment Plan.
• Scalability
• Do you offer automatic renewal?
• Which volume discounts do your offer?
• Take a look at your web hosting agreement. Is it clear? Is it easy to read?
• Do you get a free trial period so that you can test your compatibility, service level, etc...? Is there a money back guarantee?
• Are there any discounts for related products?

Company Background

Popularity check:

• What is the pagerank of the web hosting company?
• What is their alexa ranking? (here is an alexa ranking comparison of business web hosting companies)
• For how much time does the company exist? (look at their domain name)

Which recommendations do you get?

Search for recommendations through the web.
* Ask your friends.
* Ask in web forums.
* Look at web hosting reviews - compare them at hostchart.com