• Cost – when starting out, the price you pay for hosting is a very important deciding factor.
• Windows/Linux – Whilst they share a large number of features in common, you should research which hosting platform is most appropriate for what you want to do. This might be covered in more detail in a later post.
• Storage space – You need to have enough storage space to store all of the files your site requires. Whilst static html pages don’t take up much space, videos and audio files can be very large.
• Bandwidth – This is the amount of information which is transferred from the server to client’s browsers. If you have 250 visitors/day with an average server load of 100kb each, you would need at least 1Gb of bandwidth each month. It is advisable to have much more bandwidth than you expect you will need to ensure that your site remains live if you receive a surge of traffic.
• Reseller privileges – If you have large amount of storage space/bandwidth unused, you might want to look into whether you can sell this off and make some additional income.
• Uptime guarantee – You want your hosting provider to give some kind of guarantee that your pages will always be available. There is a very large difference between 99% and 99.999%, with the later guaranteeing that your site will not be down for more than one day every 3 years. It is worth looking at exactly what guarantee they offer as some site claim to have guarantees, but don’t provide any kind of financial recompense when they fail to deliver.
• Domain limitations – How many domains can you host on your web hosting package? Some hosting packages provide hosting for one real domain whereas others are unlimited. This is very important if you intend to host multiple domains.
• Web technologies provided – Most hosting providers come with PHP/mySQL etc… You should check that all of the technologies you need to use are available.
• RAM – if you are using a dedicated server or virtual private server (VPS), the amount of RAM available to you affects the speed your visitors get your pages displayed to them.

Depending on the above, you need to decide what kind of hosting is most appropriate to you. In order of ascending cost, the below should be considered:

• Shared hosting – You have a certain amount of bandwidth and storage space allocated to you and you share a server with a large number of other website owners. Shared hosting is available very cheaply and is suitable for some low traffic sites. Be wary of shared hosting providers offering ‘unlimited bandwidth’ – all this means is that if you use too much, they will refund you and send you elsewhere. Shared hosting can be very slow and unreliable and is often not ideal.
• Reseller hosting – This is shared hosting, but with the option of reselling any storage space/bandwidth you aren’t using.
• Virtual Private Server (VPS) – This is a very good option for many affiliate sites. You have a guaranteed amount of RAM/bandwidth/storage space and can use this how you see fit. You chose which control panel you want to use, and you have a lot of control over how you use your VPS. This is a very affordable, flexible option with few drawbacks.
• Dedicated server – you have full control over the server and how your pages are delivered. This is the most expensive option with a managed server costing hundreds of pounds each month. A dedicated server is only required for users receiving large amounts of traffic or providing hosting to many clients.

Regardless of what type of hosting you think is most appropriate to you, we recommend at least giving eUKhost a look. The prices are some of the best in the market, and the service provided is second to none. With 24 hour online chat facilities for support, problems are sorted very quickly. If you’re unsure what type of hosting you’re after, use the support chat to talk to somebody who can help you decide what would be most appropriate for you. If you are looking for shared hosting, Emase Hosting have very competitive prices.

Domain names with eUKhost are overpriced, but you can buy these from any domain name registrar and point them to your hosting. 123-REG has very competitive prices with some domains from just £0.99/year.
Once you have hosting and at least one domain name, you’re ready to get started with your affiliate marketing activities. The next few posts should help you get your first site up and running.