Choosing a Web Hosting Service

You could do it yourself

You have a computer and your isp connects you to the internet. You have everything you need to host your own site. Some people do this. Your cost would be the monthly isp charge and the cost of the electricity to run your computer. The best software for website hosting is all open source which means it's free. If your goal in setting up a website is to learn how the net works, this is the way to go.

Or you can let the experts handle it

For the other 99% of you this is the better option. Web hosting is so technical and the economies of scale are such that there is no way you can do it for yourself cheaper and better than someone else can do it for you. As for choosing one, the best I can suggest is google "web hosting". You will get some ranking pages that list hosting companies by price, customer satisfaction, features, etc. If your isp offers hosting as well, it might be good to have a single point of contact for all support issues. On the other hand isps have captive customers whereas you can change web hosts in a heartbeat. My own hosting support has been much better than my isp's. The good news is, if you have your own domain name, you can switch hosts any time you feel like it. So pick one and if it doesn't work out you can switch later.

Good luck,
Dave Driscoll