Choosing a web hosting company can be overwhelming for the new online business owner. With thousands of companies online, ranging from expensive dedicated server providers to fly-by-night operations run by teenagers in their parents’ basement, finding the right company for your needs can be an overwhelming task.

Coupled with the anonymity afforded business owners on the internet, and it can be tough figuring out which hosting offer is legitimate and which ones are too good to be true.

In order to cut through all the junk and find the right web company, the first thing you need to do is figure out what you need. Are you expecting to running a high traffic community website  that needs a dedicated server? Or are you starting a new business that just needs a very basic shared hosting account?

(If you have no idea what those terms mean, let me help. A dedicated server is a server on which one client houses her websites. On a shared server, several clients house their websites, which means if you are on a shared server, your site is probably one of hundreds.)

Chances are, if you are a new business owner, and you aren’t backed by thousands of dollars in funding, you’re going to need a basic hosting account.

Hosting accounts come with many features including databases, built-in scripts and more. You’ll need to talk with your web designer or business coach to find out what you need.

Generally speaking though, when you’re choosing a hosting company, you’ll need to consider these factors:

1. Does the hosting company offer Windows or Unix servers? Which server you choose will dependin on the language in which your web site scripts are written. If you use a script that is written in PHP and MySQL, chances are, it’s going to work best on a Unix machine. If your script is written in ASP.NET, you’re going to need a Windows server. I recommend you check with the software provider to find out which server you need.

If your site is written in HTML and CSS only, then you can use either type of server. However, in this situation, I recommend you go with a Unix machine, as they are more stable and secure.

2. Does the hosting company provide traffic statistics for your site? My favorite statistics package that comes with cPanel (one brand of control panel for your website) is AWstats. This package makes reading your site’s visitor statistics very easy. You can also use thrid-party programs like Sitemeter and Google Analytics to further track your site’s visitors. However, I would not rely on them for accurate readings of your bandwidth usage.

3. How many email accounts are included? Many hosting companies will give you an unlimited number of email accounts (which means you can setup as many accounts as you want, and that your email usage is limited only by server resources, including bandwidth and disk space).

Personally, I would not purchase a hosting account that limited the number of email accounts that I can have. But them, I’m an email address junkie and I’d rather have too many email accounts, than not enough. (Extra email accounts are good for when one account gets full of spam. I can delete it and get another email address.)

4. Does the hosting company offer domain registration services? And if they do, will they register the domain in an account you can access and in your name? If the hosting company is offering free domain registration with a one-year hosting account purchase and/or registering the domain in their own name, run far, far away. Whoever is listed as the registrar for yoru domain name is the owner of the name. And that should be you!

5. How does the company provide support? I know many people insist on phone support. However, phone support is not always what it’s cracked up to be. A good helpdesk is better than phone support that takes an hour to reach or is manned by customer services representatives reading from a manual. Email is also unreliable, as spam filters and overzealous ISPs sometimes dump that all-important email.

With a helpdesk, your tickets and tech supports responses are stored online, so you can go back and access them later. And if you don’t receive an email notification that a reply came through, you can login to your account and see that a reply has been sent.

6. Does the hosting company backup your web site files? Hosting companies should backup client sites daily, weekly and monthly on a separate hard drive. As a web site owner, you should also backup your own site periodically and download the backup file to your personal computer. Some hosting companies also offer, for an additional fee, the ability to backup your site to a remote location.

At the very least, make sure your hosting company will allow you to create your own backups easily through their control panel.

7. What is the hosting company’s uptime? Uptime is the time during which the company’s servers are running and available. While some sources recommend that you make sure your company’s uptime is at least 95 percent, I recommend 99 percent.

8. How much storage space comes in the hosting company’s packages? If you’re not sure how much space you need, take a look at your existing website to see how much space you’re using. If you don’t have an existing website, make sure your company has several plans and that you can upgrade quickly. Then start out with the smallest plan. If you expect to have lots of photographs on your site, or other large files, you may want to start out with a bigger plan.

Be wary of hosting companies that promise you unlimited space. These hosting companies are selling you on the idea that you can use as much space as you want — and banking on the fact that most customers will never come close to using all of that space. And those that do, will have their websites suspended or removed for other reason that are buried in the terms of service (such as excessive use of resources).

9. How much bandwidth do you need? Most hosting packages, particularly those on shared servers, include a maximum amount of bandwidth, or traffic, that is allowed to your site each month. You’ll need to talk to your hosting company or business coach to find out for sure how much bandwidth you need for your site. If you have a brand new site, chances are, you won’t need much.

If you grow quickly, you’ll need the ability to upgrade your package quickly. Also, some hosting companies will allow you to purchase bundles of bandwidth to add to your site for a month, in the event that you have a sudden spike in traffic that you don’t expect to continue for the long term.

As with disk space, some companies offer “unlimited bandwidth” and I’d be leery of these. Bandwidth is not unlimited, so these companies are expecting that you will only use a tiny amount of bandwidth available to you. When you start pushing the envelope, your site may very well disappear on you.

10. What is the hosting company’s pricing structure like and do they require a contract. I would expect to pay more for quality phone support, dedicated servers and proven high uptimes. I would not expect to have to sign a contract for a shared server. However, if you decide to lease a dedicated server, expect to sign a contract for at least one year.

Finally, once you determine which hosting company you want to do business with, Google reviews of the company and talk to other people who use their services. If you still don’t know of any hosting companies, check with other people in your industry that have website similar to what you are wanting to operate. They should be able to tell you about their experiences with several companies.

Michelle Waters has more than six years experience helping small businesses sell physical products online. She shares her ecommerce expertise and the stories of many online business veterans in her weekly podcast, Product Sellers Talk Radio.