What do I need to focus on when choosing a rod??? (Series 1)

I get more and more questions about what rod should I throw for certain baits so over the next couple of weeks I'm going to highlight these questions. In each series I'll go over certain rods for either baits or techniques and go over what you need to think about when choosing a rod. I'll also go over some philosophies when it comes to what I think is overrated when it comes to rods and selling points that I think are useless.