In the first two parts of my “start a forum” series I covered picking a topic, buying a domain name and choosing a forum software. Today I’m going to tell you about choosing a web host.

It’s important to research any host you are looking to go with for a few key features:

MySQL database support
High number of MySQL connections
PHP 4 or 5
Amount of bandwidth provided
Number of websites you can host
Customer service

Wether or not you plan to have more than one forum or website, it’s important to have some breathing room in your hosting plan so that you don’t just have to quickly move onto something else. Research any host you plan to go with using third party sources (i.e. ask questions at webhostingtalk.com). I personally am still hosted under the same plan that I started my first forum on nearly two years ago with hosting from Site5.com (aff). I’ve had an overall great experience working with them and they have fast customer service. I may be moving onto a dedicated hosting solution in the next few months however, as I occasionally get automated messages from my vBulletin forums stating too many people are connected at one time. All shared hosts put a limit on the max number of concurrent connections though and you’ll always be outgrowing your hosting plans eventually. I was even able to have 385 on at one time on GamingVidz.com back in february without a problem. In any case, I still plan to keep my account with Site5.com even after I purchase a dedicated hosting solution, because I intend to use a backup system to dump my MySQL databases to my shared hosting account with site5 just in case my dedicated host loses my data.

Next time I’ll cover initial forum launch strategies to help increase new registrations and tactics to encourage members to post.