Being from the hosting and web industry, I noticed that most of the reviews are very specific reviews, not generic advices as the category suggests . Although specific advices on a multiple hosting companies and web service providers would probably go a long way in helping the regular user, it is probably also worthwhile to have a General Advice on Web Hosting - the topic .
Who requires web hosting?
A person who wishes to have a website would be the common answer . Now, you might also require web hosting not just to upload your html files but also to run Email from your own domain, such as salman@mycompany.com . It would also probably be informative here to mention that, you do not need hosting till you are ready to upload your website files . The moment you purchase a domain name, you might be inclined to also get web hosting or you might be urged by the service provide to buy web hosting at the same time . But doing so, you are starting your hosting period before you need it, and bringing your renewal date earlier than what could be .
Different Types of Hosting
You might be thinking that you have already used web hosting while using websites such as ImageShack, Putfile, Rapidshare, Dekhona, Youtube and the rest . Let me tell you that although such websites use the word hosting and web hosting sparingly, that is a different kind of hosting - ImageShack - picture hosting, Youtube - video hosting, Rapidshare - file hosting - all have individual objectives - of allowing a person to share files typically to known colleagues of the uploader .
Whereas, Web hosting serves the purpose of displaying content in the form of web pages, supported by files, images and videos . Because of the various other co-functions served by web hosting - such as email, ftp access, running dynamic file types and provide visitor statisics, often there would be a difference of size of files, cost( not being free), and such .
Linux and Windows hosting
Often this creates a misconception - I have never used Linux and my Home / Office PC runs on Microsoft Windows, so how will I see my site if it is hosted on Linux . This is a wrong notion!
The operating system being linux or windows on the web server machine does not prevent you, or your prospective site visitors experience .
Web Hosting Control Panels
While going through web hosting vendor websites you will come across names such as CPanel, Helm, Plesk, H-Sphere and such . These are names of the automation system( software), that creates an interface for a layman, end user to do tasks such as " creating email ids, edit disk space quota, view web stats " etc . Personally I feel CPanel is one of the most common and easy to use interfaces - opinions may vary .
Disk Space - How much do I need?
Almost since Google came out with Gmail with 1 GB email accounts for free, a lot of hosting vendors caught up to the game Google was playing . Offer large amount of space knowing maximum amount of users will not actively use 20% of it, but at least such a large capacity works a great Selling point . You will see lots of vendors providing 1GB, 2 GB, 100 GB bandwith held down to a single domain . Now that is the catch . A single site for a regular company website or a individual hardly would manage to use up 20 MB to 100 MB space at most over a period of 1 year - that too mostly through junk emails, and not deleting old unused files .
To explain a little more: Say for example, your company website contains 10 pages, 1 profile, 1 contact page, 2 text writeups such as service and support and 5 Product gallery pages . These 5 product pages are the pages with images - 15 pictures each on 5 pages, thats 75 images . Typically a image on a page would be a 800x600 JPEG, whose disk size would be around 90 KB . Thus 90 x 75= 6750 KB, which is less than 10 MB . You decide .:)
There would obviously be cases where the company / team would actively use 50-60 Email ids each with 10 MB or 30 MB each - those are exceptions as opposed to the regular .
So how do I select a hosting company?
Now, that is the topic matter of another review, but it would be safe to say by finding a company with better support options, actual phone numbers( not just Live Chat), amd quicker email responses . Find a hosting company through references - not by website claiming a multitude of features with gastronomical figures and less than Rs.500 hosting plans.