Questions to consider in selecting a wiki hosting service

So I've convinced you that a wiki hosting service is the solution for you, but you are looking for the right direction you should take? Well, you can easily have a wiki created in just a very few moments using several wiki hosting services. However, before you take that plunge, take a few minutes to think about what you want from your wiki hosting service.

Here are just a few questions to ask yourself:

1) Are you looking for a free or free-based hosting service?
2) Will you be creating a single site or do you think you might create multiple wikis, if all goes well?
3) Do you want to learn wiki markup (or wiki syntax or wikitext)? Or, do you want to use a hosting service that does not require you to learn and to use tags?
4) Do you have a problem with ads being placed on your wiki by the hosting service?
5) Do you need a private wiki that only those you invite should be able to view?

6) Are you hoping that other users of the wiki hosting service might see your site and join your community too?
7) Do you want to be notified when updates are made to the site content?

8) About how many people do you think will be using your wiki?

9) About how many pages do you think will be created?

10) Do you want to use multimedia (e.g., images, videos) on your site?

11) Are you interested in community features (e.g., member profiles, member messaging, discussion forums) on your site?

12) Do you want to place other applications or widgets on your site (e.g., to conduct a survey, to conduct a poll, online chat, guestbook, music player)?

These are just a few questions to help you start thinking about what you want on your wiki and what features you expect from a wiki hosting service.

Post a comment if you have other general questions that you think should be considered when selecting a wiki hosting service.