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What basic information do I need to have about my ancestor before I start looking for the ship that he/she came to America on? So that I don't waste a lot of time fruitlessly searching for a ship - what information should I try to find first, before I look for the ship?

If I know a name and possible spellings of that name and a birth date, what else do I need to know in order to confidently connect them to a particular ship?

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First thing you need to know is where "here" is and probably also where "from" was. Sources of evidence are almost always closely related to the places where events occurred. – Fortiter Oct 12 '12 at 12:17
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It would also help to have a timeframe to consider -- when roughly did he travel? – ColeValleyGirl♦ Oct 12 '12 at 12:36
Genealogy is context sensitive; your question could be improved upon by adding some specifics. I've tried to add some general information. Happy to improve my answer if you add specifics to your question. – GeneJ Oct 12 '12 at 15:02
Agree with @GeneJ, Jeni, I think your question would be more useful if we knew more about what you know about your ancestor already. Where did he/she come from? What was the time period? Consider that it's possible answers below may make assumptions about your ancestor that may be false or may lead you down a path you've already researched simply because we're lacking all the details. Hope this helps! :) – jmort253 Oct 13 '12 at 3:33
Agree - much more info needed in question before it can have specific rather than generalised answer. – PolyGeo Oct 13 '12 at 3:57
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Others can speak for themselves, but everyone in my family was excited when we discovered the identity, passage rates and even a picture of a ship our ancestors traveled on over the deep blue sea. Even those folks who didn't show other interested in genealogy, had a genuine interest.

Did you know ... there is an effort underway to index ships? Check out ShipIndex.org These folks even want to help us differentiate between the Elizabeth and the Elizabeth. (If you have been on a ship quest, you'll understand what that means.)

Ships (perhaps I should say vessels) traveled from place to place on a specific voyage that took varying amounts of time. This means dates and locations are relevant to your quest.

Depending on the era, it may be quite a task to develop a reasonable estimate of the dates and locations of the travel.

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I found several Mormon ancestors who came here - wish they all had been Mormons - what a wonderful site Mormon Migration is mormonmigration.lib.byu.edu - it's easy to find who traveled together & there are stories and diaries about the ships as well. Thanks for Shipindex! – Jeni Oct 13 '12 at 10:48
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I am reluctant to suggest a recipe but there is a thread running through the comments that have been added to your question which can be summarised as:

  • What was the "old country"?
  • What is the latest record of activity there?
  • Where did your ancestor travel to?
  • What is the earliest record you can locate in his or her new home?

Then you have a window in place and time (or a frame, you can choose your own metaphor) in which to investigate the migration. If my ancestor was in Hanover in 1863 and in Adelaide in 1871, then I know that I need to investigate shipping lines servicing what would now be called the Germany-Australia route in say 1850-1880.

Once you have defined your window then sites like the one suggested by GeneJ become useful tools in identifying the possible shipping line, then the probable ship and if you are fortunate the repository that will hold the passenger lists that you will need to examine.

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