There are several things to consider when evaluating a company to host your website.

1. The company itself should present a professional website that clearly addresses the services they offer. Look for a company that has been in business for at least a few years and is hosting at least 50,000+ domains. There should be a physical address and phone number available as well as email contact.

2. Reliability is a key factor with any hosting company. While all web hosts will have down time periodically. While not all hosts will advertise their uptime percentages, for those that do look for an up time of 99.5% or better. For those that don't read carefully what they say about the say about the reliability of their service. Also, be somewhat wary of "guaranteed" uptime....there is always a possibility of unforeseen circumstances when computer equipment is involved.

3. Service is another important aspect. When you site goes down - and it will - you need to be able to contact your hosting company and know that you will receive a fairly rapid response. A good service department should also be able to answer any questions or concerns about their service as well be available in emergencies. Settle for nothing less than 24/7 on site service that can be reached by phone as well as email.

4. Look for a money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with the service. Most companies require a year or two paid in advance in order to obtain the best pricing. A solid company will offer a pro-rated money back guarantee if you can cancel the service early.

5. Look for additional charges if you should exceed bandwidth or storage. All companies will charge an additional fee if you exceed the limits of your plan. You want to make certain that those fees are reasonable AND that the company will keep your site online while you arrange to pay them. You absolutely do not want someone to see that "website has exceeded allotted bandwidth" page when they try to access your site.

6. If you are interested in reselling web space (a convenient method of getting your own hosting free), then you will need to look at a host such as Hostgator which offers reselling packages.
7. After you have narrowed companies down by the features that you require, also look at the extra feature that companies offer with their plans. Many will offer free domain registrations with certain packages, website builders, shopping carts, multiple scripting options, and other features. While none of these alone should be your primary criteria in evaluating a hosting company, they can be useful and can save both time and money in the long run.