What to look for in a Web host
Web hosting key features:

Quality: Up time should be posted on the site and be 99% or above.
Off server or mirror backups daily.
Support: Free phone support
Online e-mail support and help files,
Tutorials,and control panel file manager
Price: Things to compare are bandwidth, sever side software like CSS and Mysql databases.FTP access and email accounts.

Website hosting planning for your site
by M. Geller webmaster Fun with your PC
Building a website:
Websites can be built and viewed off-line without a web host if you know html,have site builder software or a site template. Websites can be made with windows notepad or other text editors,just by entering the html code and saving the text file as a file with the .html extension instead of .txt.The saved file will be veiwed in your browser just by opening it.
Web hosting bandwidth how much you need:
How much bandwidth you need depends on your type of site. Most personal sites will never use even the minimum that web hosting companies offer.However sites which want to allow downloads or have alot of pictures music or video can use bandwidth very quickly.For most business sites you want to control your bandwidth and keep it down to allow as many visitors as possible with the lowest possilble cost for monthly bandwidth charges.
Conserving website bandwidth:
There are many good ways to keep bandwidth use low. Keeping pictures as small as possible is one.You can also save pictures at a lower quality level to reduce file size. This also speeds up page loads.Finding a level that gives the desired effect and load time without giving up to much for your visitors just takes some tinkering with your picture editor. Keeping remote linking (FTP access)to files at a minimum is another way to keep website bandwidth low.If visitors want to link to your site you can have them host any banners or images on their Web host. Most personal sites don't allow this feature.But if you have a business host or dedicated server web hosting you will have to monitor your remote file access.Don't use images for menu links,they use more bandwidth and search engines can't see the text on a button image which can hurt rankings.
Calculating website bandwidth:
For a web page,the total file size for all the .html, .txt, images, sound files etc. times the number of page views downloads and file requests a month is the bandwidth that will be used.
It is not as complex as it sounds.Your page size can be viewed just by right clicking your saved .html page and selecting properties.You do image files,text and sound files the same way.The size will be "kb" kilobytes. 1kb is 1024 bytes.So if your page file is 15kb you multiply 15 x 1024 which is 15360 bytes.If you had only this text page with no pictures and it was veiwed 3000 times in one month your bandwidth use would be 3000 x 15360=46,080,000 bytes or 46mb (46 mega bytes).There are free websites online with calculators which make this very easy once you know your file sizes.