While I'm on technical issues, a few months ago Adrian Weckler commented that Irish companies should host their web sites outside Ireland.
For the most part I agree with Weckler, but choosing a hosting company is not easy. There are seemingly thousands from which to choose and it's not easy to know which ones are the good ones.
Over the past 8 years I have changed web hosts twice. First time was when I moved my site out of Ireland to a US-based host and this past January I changed to a different US-based host.
One factor that is crucial to consider is support and whether your site's support will be available during your business hours. If you're going to host your site in the US, 24/7 support is required just to be sure that your Monday morning isn't ignored because it's still Sunday night in San Jose (or wherever).
Weckler used Yahoo's hosting package as an example of what can be found in the US, but Yahoo was very expensive compared with most of the other hosting companies I investigated. Have a good look around, but before you begin your investigation be certain as to what you need in terms of space, scripting, databases, etc.
