Most people choose a Web host based on price, technology and/or the recommendation of their Web agency. All of these are important factors, but most people overlook the destructive impact choosing the wrong host can have on your interactive marketing initiatives. How do you choose a hosting company? One of the most important factors when choosing a host is determining which tools and services they support and don’t support. What statistics or Web analytics packages does your host offer? You don’t want to pay a third party a premium for your Web analytics package because your host only provides “free-ware” statistics. Many hosts have strategic relationships with some of the best Web analytics vendors in an effort to provide their customers with powerful site measurement tools bundled into the cost of their hosting packages.

Are you choosing your host because it includes a site building tool? If so, this can be a real advantage to businesses without Web development resources, but buyers should beware that this will most likely impact your Search Marketing initiatives. Most WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) site building applications make optimizing your site for the search engines very difficult at best, with most actually hurting your chances of achieving necessary search engine rankings. These tools in many cases actually prevent Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices from being incorporated into your website. Does your host provide or offer eCommerce packages? If so, is that the software you will be using to sell your products online? If not, make sure the host will support your eCommerce solution of choice. Many eCommerce solutions require specialized installations which your host may or may not support, even in a dedicated hosting environment.