With the onslaught of many hosting companies on the web deciding where to sign up can be a bit of a hassle. For me I usually check out web hosting rating sites to check which ones appear constantly on the top 10, it differs from one rating site to another but usually on the top 10 its almost always the same companies. I'd also consider going for those companies with web hosting awards and those that offer web hosting tutorials after all not everyone really knows what they're doing.