At one time it was quite rare for companies and even individuals to have a web site but with the extremely affordable web hosting services available nowadays it makes sound business sense to build a web presence and to not do so can even harm your business. You will find that many of your customers will expect you to have an email and a business card without one nowadays is exceptional, fortunately this is easily remedied. Therefore, building a web site has now become an essential part of marketing your business, however in order to get the most benefit you need reliable web hosting services combined in a good package that offers value for money. Choosing a web hosting package is fairly easy? Step one is for you to decide what you are wanting from your hosting provider. This can be difficult if this is your first web site but one essential decision I would advise you to take is to purchase a web hosting service that is outside of your broadband or internet service provider package. Selecting a domain name that you actually want and will remember is a nice benefit as well as short email addresses. Free web hosting services are okay for hobby or family sites but not a good footing for a serious business. I also recommend that you do not buy your domain name and web hosting package from the same provider. Should your hosting provider fail then this should enable you to easily swap to another service with ease.C. which you can re-upload to a new hosting account. 3 recommended items to think about when selecting hosting services start with disk space and bandwith requirements? One thing, the sales pitch for web hosting services always quotes large figures, these are usually far greater than you will ever require. So, assuming yours is a simple 10 page site then the cheapest option is bound to be the best at this stage, future upgrades should be straightforward. What level of support do you require? It is very common to see the best web hosting services offering up-time rates in excess of 99% and these are certainly achievable. However, do not believe the claims of 100% up-time, this is impossible, even the best web hosting company will need to have a little downtime for essential maintenance works. 100% is never realistic. Maybe your require software to build websites? It is likely that you will find several web hosting providers offering suitable free software. In conclusion, identify your web hosting services needs first then go shopping but watch out for the extreme claims of unrealistic features.