A web host is a service provider who basically puts your web site on a computer which is connected to the internet. In this case, the computer that we are talking about is called as a server. A web hosting provider normally has a fast connection to the internet and they have the ability to host thousands of websites on many servers. The web host rents out space to you so that you can have your website seen on the World Wide Web. Once you give the responsibility of hosting your website to an internet service provider, you then need not to worry about the complicated server technology and also about the proper technical maintenance. All this issues are handled by the hosting company. Hence, you can free yourself from website maintenance work. There are many features that come along with the web hosting package provided by the web hosting provider. They are as follows:

1)Control Panel:

cPanel is the most popular control panel. The control panel is basically an interface for accessing your website on the web server. It allows you to update and customize your website.

2)Disk space:

Your disk space requirement depends upon your website. If your website does not have too many graphics, sound and video clips or downloadable files then in that case you predict your website space requirement to be approximately 50MB. However, you can always have some extra disk space left for incase you need to upgrade your website.

3)Bandwidth:

Here, bandwidth is referred to the amount of data that is transmitted and received through the internet. The bandwidth gets consumed when the visitor makes a request for certain files available on the website and then downloads the same on to his or her computer.

4)Email Account:

Email account facility is provided so that you can check your emails. You also have pop3 email account facility, where you can check emails using outlook etc.

5)Scripting language:

The top web hosting companies use unix and linux platform, php, perl and cgi. There are all different languages provided by the hosting company. Choose a hosting company that also provides latest version.

6)Database provision:Check whether your website needs a lot of data that must be dynamically accessible. Example: user accounts, maps, interactive news, forums etc. If your website requires a lot of database then you have to choose a host which deals with the same. MySQL is a popular database program and It’s operating system is linux.

One must understand that if you have opted for more disk space and bandwidth then you will have to pay more fees. So, one must choose a web hosting package based on the present requirement and also see that the company provides after sales service.