Find An Established Web Hosting Company
Many startups go out of business within two to three years.

Space and Bandwidth
The web hosting service will provide you a maximum amount of space on their server and bandwidth per month, depending on the plan you purchase. Obviously the bigger your website is and more traffic you have will determine which plan to go with.

Email Accounts
Most web hosting companies provide numerous email accounts. Find out exactly how many they provide under each plan and whether or not this meets your needs.

Free Tools
Check to see if the web hosting company offers a free web design tool to help you make a website. Otherwise, if you're familiar with HTML you can make your own website or you can pay a web design company to make one for you. Many web hosting companies also offer this service at an additional cost.

Customer Support
Find out if the customer support is via written FAQs on their website, or whether you can call a toll free number 24/7 and speak to a knowledgeable customer service person. If you're new to web hosting or running a small business, customer support will be much more important to you than an individual who has had other websites hosted.

Consider the Contract
Find out how long of a contract is required to get the monthly price advertised. is it monthly or do you need to sign a one year or two year contract? What happens if you want to cancel early? Is there a trial period?

Determine the Costs
Make sure you compare apples-to-apples. Cost isn't necessarily limited to the monthly costs. Find out how much, if anything, the costs are for setup, domain name registration, etc.