Following are the factors one need to look before selecting a Webhosting provider 1) Support 2) Security 3) Payments 4) Uptime 5) Scalability 6) Genuine offers and customer reviews
1. Support - polite and willing to go the extra mile 2. Affordable - price should be within my range 3. Money back guarantee 4. Server - up time, performance and features should be decent.
Other already gave nice answers. I'll add few more: Downtime compensation (SLA Aggreement - due to hardware failure and not server maintenance.) Not all company offer Downtime Compensation. At least, from few companies only two gave compensation for downtime without being asked. They send compensation whenever downtime happened. I even didn't notice the downtime. The company gave me 100% compensation. Other may gave compensation but I didn't bother to ask. Being Honest with customer (Explain server specs and IO limitation) Hosting company should explain their server specifications and Input/Output limitation in their site. They should explain individual spec and limitation for eachc hosting package too. Has/offer CDN CDN may not an important for some peoples. However, CDN would be useful to webmaster who have visitors from various countries/continents. Send email every month. I know most people dislike it but I find it quite useful. An email about server infrastructure and how to secure website installation. Customer Loyalty Program Not all companies offer this program. Loyal and good customer has reduced price on various products. Old customer also receive similar offer. Coupon and Promo. Few companies gave me coupons and promos for some products. This is why I like hosting company which send email every month. They send Promos and Coupons via email every month. Early access to Product / Hosting Package It is nice to get early access to some products/packages. Most of suggestions above are based on my limited experience. Three members above me already give nice answers. Think of my suggestions as complimentary. ^__^