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Are you about to launch your first website or blog? If so (and if you choose to self-host), you’ll need a domain name and Web hosting company to get your site online. What should you look for in a Web host?

Before you can compare Web hosting companies or decide which Web hosting reviews to pay attention to, you have to know what you’re looking for in a new host. Since you’re still new to Web hosting, we’ve assembled a checklist to help you out. This Web hosting checklist is designed to help beginners map out their domain registration and hosting needs before they spend any money.

You can view the beginner’s Web hosting checklist below, or print the .pdf version to use for yourself.

Web Hosting Checklist

In order to use this Web hosting checklist, you’ll need to decide what you want. To make it easier on beginners, some of the things you’ll need to decide on are listed at the top. When you print out the .pdf version, you can fill these in. Then go down the checklist and check off any hosting package you’re considering that meets your requirements in those areas.

Disk Space: ___________ (How much do you need?)

Bandwidth: ___________ (How much will you use each month?)

Uptime: ___________ (What required uptime do you expect?)

Control Panel: ___________ (Do you want a specific control panel?)

Operating System: ___________ (Do you want Linux or Windows hosting?)

Price Limit: __________ (What monthly price are you willing to pay?)

CHECKLIST

(Fill out a checklist for every Web hosting company you’re considering.)

General

___ Meets disk space requirements

___ Adequate servers and RAM

___ Meets bandwidth requirements

___ Meets uptime requirements

___ Desired control panel?

___ Desired operating system?

Billing

___ Meets price requirements

___ Allows monthly billing

___ Discounts offered for longer term contracts

___ Money-back guarantee

Support

___ 24/7 support

___ Telephone support

___ Adequate uptime guarantee

Domains

___ Free domain included

___ Allows subdomains

___ Allows add-on domains

___ You own and control the domain (if registered through the host)

Features

___ MySQL

___ PHP

___ CGI bin

___ Perl

___ SSI

___ FTP access

___ Anonymous FTP access

___ Free Web statistics programs included

___ Shared SSL

___ Dedicated SSL

___ Email hosting included

___ One-click installs of popular scripts (like WordPress)

___ Password-protected directories (for password protecting areas of your site)

This is not an exhaustive list, but it covers the most common features a new website owner might want in a hosting package. If you need other programming languages supported, additional features, or anything else not included here, add them to your checklist.

Ideally you’ll want to find a Web hosting company that offers everything you’ve included in your checklist — all of the things you want or need in managing your website. If no such plan exists, you can compare your checklists side-by-side to figure out which hosting package offers the most things you’re looking for, and which ones are missing essential elements so you can weed them out.

Whether you’re looking for a new hosting company for your very first site, or your hundredth site, we wish you the best of luck in finding the perfect Web hosting package for your unique needs.