In the end, Shared Hosting is for those looking to set up a few pages, maybe sell a couple of items. Even attempting to run a phpBB3/vBulleting/yaBB forum on a shared server is going to be a waste of time/resources/money as inevitably your members are going to send you over the top on these alleged "Unlimited" specs.

And yes, if it sounds to good to be true, then it is. Many of these hosting companies are nothing more than re-sellers, meaning they don't even own/control the servers see more and simply act as a go between between you and the true hosting company.

Do your research, buy a server that is going to be able to replicate the environment you want your site to run on when it's fully grown and in a production environment.

Further, when selecting your host, here are some good questions:

1. Do you have a True VPS that can support your Own RMS and not the RMS of the Host or another entity. Recently talked to one host who was asked the True VPS question and the response was yes, asked about RMS and he gave away the lie when he said: "Every server we have has RMS installed on it and all acounts come with RMS." If it's a True VPS then why is there RMS installed on it and your not allowed to have your own?

2. When the site is ready to upgrade from a VPS can you provide a Dedicated Server or will the site need to be moved to a new host? I had a conversation with GoDaddy where they admitted, they provide NO Dedicated Servers if that became a reality then the site would have to find a new home.

3. When the site reaches that point where it has outgrown the Dedicated, can the host provide a Server Cluster for the site to run on? Again, you will be surprised at how many hosts will say no to this again. In the end, it's not in their interest to run VPS, Dedicated or Clusters as they can make more off a million shared accounts than they ever could off one guy taking up an entire Server or 5 Servers.

Do your homework and plan for the future today, that is the only way you will be sure to know your site will never outgrow it's host. Personally, I keep standing orders that if my sites EVER outgrow their current environment then the Hosting Plans are to be upgraded without even asking and just send the bill for it.