Have you taken a look at some of the web hosting packages these days? They are packed with a ton of disk space, bandwidth and unlimited emails. Who needs all that stuff? If you are looking to establish a personal website or a start-up business website, you won't need some gargantuan plan. You need an affordable web hosting plan that is realistic in regards to the disk space and bandwidth while fitting within the miniscule budget you set aside just for this purpose.

There is no need to pay for what you don't plan to use. With an affordable web hosting plan, you get what you need to start with and then re-evaluate as your website grows. Keeping your eye on growth is a handy but you also have to be realistic. Affordable web hosting allows you to do that. By starting out with just the basics, you can always broaden your services as needed, at least that is if you choose an affordable web hosting plan which can grow with you.

The problem is, most people who want to establish a web presence have no idea on exactly how much bandwidth and disk space they need. Therefore, they are dazzled by these plans which offer them a plethora of space. But is the price for all of that worth it? If you never reach that fifty gig capacity, why are you paying for it?

Many affordable web hosting plans will give you the option of upgrading as needed. Of course, as you add another layer of services to your present website, the price will go up a bit in proportion to what you added to the plan. If you are getting what you are paying for, your money will be well spent. The optimal web hosting plans will be ala carte where you can pick and choose what services you want. Of course, ala carte is not offered. Therefore, you choose the most viable web hosting plan that will suit your needs and pocketbook.

If you do not anticipate heavy traffic levels to your website or won't use up an astronomical amount of drive space, your affordable web hosting could detour into a shared hosting plan. This is where several entities co-exist on the same server sharing bandwidth and hard drive space. The web hosting company can then offer you lower prices because several entities paying on the same thing such as hardware and maintenance is shared across the board with the other server members.

So how do you know if that affordable web hosting company is on the up and up? You can look up on WHOIS to see who owns the domain of your web hosting company's website. From there, you can gather information such as where they are headquartered and their phone number. You can also use that information to search on the Better Business Bureau to check for any complaints – both resolved and unresolved. All of these tools can help you narrow down an affordable web hosting provider.