Pick the right server. We talked about Shared, Dedicated and Virtual before, now here's what that all means.

Shared Server

As the name implies, Shared means that you rent some space on a server that's shared with other websites.

This can be likened to a person living in an apartment and sharing the building with other tenants. For the most part, this type of web host is quite adequate for the beginner in terms of both price and features.

Because this server is shared, your site's performance may be affected if it ever gets overloaded, not just by your site's activity, but also by everyone who shares that server. Most web-hosts have a built-in redundancy to prevent this, however, it still happens occassionally.

Here's a bright spot: It is the cheapest way to get online and has an abundance of packages and features. As a business owner, you must consider their support. Is it 24/7? If you are going to include a forum or photo exchange, do they provide the right type of database to handle this?

Dedicated Server

If your web presence is crucial, look closely at securing a dedicated or a virtual private server (VPS). Dedicated servers would be the equivalent of you renting the entire apartment building versus just one apartment.

You have root access and can set up your server however you like. This is definitely not newbie territory, since everything is in your hands, from security to set up. You're the go to person. Major technical knowledge is a requirement, however if you are adventurous....

An obvious advantage would be more performance due to the dedicated resources such as disk space and memory. Additional advantages include flexibility to set up the server however you desire, and because you may more that likely have excess space, you can now turn around and resell webspace to anyone you wish for whatever price you wish.  

Virtual Private Server (VPS)

What's a Virtual Private Server? Well, if you are not quite ready for a Dedicated Server but feel that shared hosting is not for you, the answer for you may lie in a Virtual Private Server. The in between solution.

This server still uses some shared resources such as CPU and memory, but unlike the shared plan, the VPS is fully partitioned. This means it is not affected by other activity on the server, for example someone operating a spam-o-rama on the same server, but in a different partition.

Again, it is cheaper that a dedicated unit and you can still resell space. The cons include some small security risks associated with shared hardware.

Who you choose to help you establish an online presence will make all the difference between having peace of mind and being totally frustrated in the long run.