* Data transfer How much data do you need to transfer? Most hosting plans limit how much data transfer you are allotted each month. If you expect a lot of people to visit your site, you'll need a plan that allows for plenty of data transfer.

* E-commerce Will you be selling goods or services through your site? If not, there's no need to sign up for an e-commerce web hosting service. If you are, e-commerce web hosting services such as shopping cart software, SSL support and a merchant account will be vital.

* Database, script and extension support Some hosts will try to blind you with all features they provide: Frontpage, MS Access, MySQL, MS SQL, Peri support, PHP support, ASP support and SSI support. Do you really need all these features? If not, make sure you are not paying for extras you'll never use.

* Operating systems Do you want a UNIX hosting plan or a Windows hosting plan? Unix is most commonly used operating system among Web servers. It is known for its flexibility, reliability and stability. Windows hosting plans give you ability to utilize many forms of dynamic content and specialized databases. Windows hosting plans are often used for sites utilizing Frontpage, ASP, MS Access databases, MS SQL Servers and other Microsoft applications.

* Support Is customer and technical support available 24/7? Can you easily get through on customer support hotline? Or are you on hold for hours?

What is a dedicated server? A dedicated server is very similar to a VPS, except that you get full server. You get full root access and complete control over it. With a dedicated server, however, comes a lot of responsibility. You need to make sure that server is fully secure. A managed server means that company you are getting dedicated server from will manage it for you, but amount of management that you receive depends on company. If you are interested in a managed server, you should ask host ahead of time about amount of management that they will provide. You can also outsource management. There are numerous companies out there that you can outsource management to. The one I've seen with lowest price that has good reviews is FastServerManagement.com, which is priced at $29.99 a month for full management. I've also read some good things about Rack911.com, but they cost more. You can always manage it yourself, but if using a Linux server you will need a lot of Linux experience, or with a Windows server there are a lot of security flaws that need to be fixed. If managing it yourself, I recommend getting a security scan on your server done to ensure that it is fully secured. For hosting provider, I recommend ThePlanet.com, a very large hosting company which owns 2 datacenters in Texas. They offer servers with a minimum amount of management starting at $199.99 a month (or sometimes more, when they're not on sale). They also have a cheaper line of servers, starting at $99/month, at ServerMatrix.com. You may also want to look at Ev1Servers.Net, which starts at $99 a month, or LayeredTech.com, which starts at $60/month. You could always also do a Google search for "dedicated servers" and get lots of results.

What is colocation? I won't go to much into depth here, because I have no experience with colocation. With colocation, you own a server and you pay a datacenter to hold it for you. They will provide space in datacenter, bandwidth, IP addresses, etc. Some hosting companies that offer colocation provide on-site staff, but others will require you to have your own staff.

This wraps up my summary of different types of web hosting. I didn't recommend any shared or reseller providers because there are so many out there. I recommend going to WebHostingTalk.com to read reviews about different web hosting companies. I didn't recommend any colocation providers because I have no experience with any. I hope that I did a good job explaining all of this.