Domain name
A domain name is the www.yourname.com phrase that you see on all of the best Web pages out there. Be aware that most of the cheapest hosting solutions will not allow you to use your own name, and you will be relegated to using an address provided by the host. For your own domain, you'll have to pay the InterNIC $70 for a two-year license to use the name, and it may cost you more at your provider to host a domain name. Get the pricing details up front!

Mail accounts
Some providers will only provide one email account, while some will provide two or three. Every host will provide extra mail accounts at additional cost. Take this into account if you have to supply mail to several people.

Domino Name & Address Book
Domino Developers and Administrators all know that the heart and soul of a Notes installation is the Name & Address Book, or NAB. Most importantly, the NAB is used to control access in the Access Control Lists for your applications. Do you want to share an address book with other companies, or do you need your own? Is your own NAB included, or do you have to pay extra? Find the answers to these questions early, so you don't get hit with hidden charges later.

Setup fees, contracts, and facilities
Find out what type of setup fees the company charges. Are they blanket charges, or are they itemized? Many companies that offer low cost solutions on a monthly basis can charge a ton in setup fees. Also make sure you're comfortable with the length of a service contract. Make sure you're comfortable with any commitments you make.

It is always a good idea to ask the company the following questions: What type of hardware will my site be hosted on? What types and speed of connections do you have to the Internet? What types of backup systems are in place?

References
All good hosting providers will be able to furnish references. Find out the Web site addresses of the referenced pages and check them out. Chances are if the Web pages download sluggishly compared to your normal surfing, then that provider will not be able to feed your page any faster. Also, use the provider's own home page as a benchmark. If the provider's page does not look professional, or it takes too long to download, you'll know that provider will not be a good choice.

My personal thoughts on Domino hosting
At this point, Domino hosting is wonderful from a business standpoint. Unfortunately the pricing schemes have left individual Web developers out in the cold. For a site with your own personal domain name, prices will generally be a minimum of $50 a month. That will include 25-50 megabytes of hosting space and 500-1000 megabytes of data transfer a month. You'll also get one email account, normally available through POP3. These features are normally found for about $30 less a month on a provider that uses NT or Unix. Most of the NT providers also support Microsoft FrontPage extensions. I believe this will have a big impact on future generations of programming talent.