Are you looking for web hosting online? If so, be sure to choose wisely. There are many types of hosting packages that you can choose from. Make sure you choose a plan that is most suitable for your website. What happens if you choose the wrong package?

If you have chosen the wrong hosting plan, it's likely that your hosting account may be suspended or terminated. Usually, this only occurs when your account exceeds the amount of resources that is allocated for your websites. To prevent that from happening, here are some tips that may help you make a better buying decision.

1. Type of website you are going to run.

Mistake number 1 - download an open source script and sign up for a shared hosting package, and expecting the servers to be able to support the website. Unfortunately, in a shared hosting environment, resources may be limited. If your site ends up hogging lots of resources, other websites may be affected.

So right from the start, be very clear about the type of website your are going to host. More specifically, find out the amount of resources that a website will need. Usually, you will have no issues hosting a static website or a blog in a shared environment. But if you are thinking of starting something more ambitious like a forum or a video hosting site, you need to buy a plan with more resources - such as VPS or dedicated hosting.

2. VPS and dedicated hosting.

VPS stands for virtual private server. Using special software, a single server can be used to behave as if it's too separate servers. For instance, if your VPS account is down, this won't affect the entire server. Likewise, if somebody else's account is down, your VPS account will not be affected. In many ways, a VPS resembles dedicated hosting. The key difference is in the amount of resources that is allocated. Because multiple VPS accounts may reside on a single server, the resources of that server are often distributed thinly. If the amount of resources allocated to a VPS account is enough to power your website, by all means sign up for a VPS account. To consider signing up for dedicated hosting, you have to consider paying 2 to 4 times more.

Dedicated hosting is the best hosting plan you can sign up for. The entire server is there for your own use. You can host as many sites as you want, and you have full control over how you want the server to behave. For example, you can choose to install third party components on a dedicated server (you can't do that in a shared hosting environment). If you lack the technical competence to run a dedicated server, you can always sign up for managed hosting. Managed hosting includes important services like back up, monitoring, and support services. If you encounter problems with your servers, you can get a qualified server administrator to assist you.

When signing up for hosting, you also have to consider the reliability of the hosting services.