I think the following criteria are necessary for a good web hosting company:

1. Good customer support.
2. Up and running Server at least at %99.50 of the time.
3. Enough bandwidth.
4. Enough disk space.
5. Routin backup

The other free tools and bonuses such as shipping cart, weblog, free software, etc are optional and depend on user. If you visit Sheth site, you will see that he has chosen three great hosting companies that are my favorites too. Although I have never used Yahoo Hosting, but you agree with me that the name, Yahoo, says it all.

I have personally used Hostgator and Hostmonster and I can not say enough how happy I am with their service and price.

Hard Disk Space:

The more space, the better service. The volume and type of content you plan to host is the key in deciding the space needed. Images, graphics audio and video files consume more space. If your data contains them, go for larger disk space.

The Bandwidth:

Higher band width can accommodate more traffic and has less chance of website crashing. Technological advances helped to resolve the band width problems. Today, so much of bandwidth is available, that most of the web hosts are ready to offer a free data transfer of 1,000 GB.

Web Analysis:

This service gives you a picture of the way your site is being used. So it is a very useful service to buy. You can learn about the origins of your traffic, the popular pages, the amount of time a visitor is spending on your sites, the search engines that favor your site etc.

Disk Space Analysis:

You have to clarify the untold details of the disk space allotted to you. If log files and e-mail boxes are included in it you have to be careful. Daily log files are better than monthly log files as you can erase them every day after verification. The later can occupy valuable mega bites in your server if you ignore them. You have to put a maximum limit on each of your e-mail boxes.

Auto Responders:

Check for this little software when you have a business website. It helps in sending automatic replies to people who show interest in your web site.

FTP Access:

You cannot host content without FTP access. In general many web hosts charge nothing for this facility.