A good example i can think of is Batteries. There are like probably 100's different companies who make batteries and only a few are popular.Why ? I myself bought batteries from an unknown brand and it lasted only a few hours while from a reputable company it lasts almost 2 weeks or more. Why , because there was more juice in it. Same as web hosting , million companies and every one make promises. So how do we figure out who to go with?
1. Review the company you want to go with. If you are inUS , find us based servers.
2. Find out what kind of equipment they use for servers.
3.What is the uptime on their servers.
4.Do they have a money back guarantee
5.Do they have competative price?
6.What kind of servers they offer - windows-linux,apache etc
7.How much web space and bandwidth will you get for your money ( very important )
8.Do they offer a trial period for customer satisfaction?
These are just basic ideas. Remember 1 thing also the main service you want from a hosting company is " CUSTOMER SERVICE ". Yes this is the main service you would go for.
Why? Let's say you have a problem with your website and you need immediate attention. you email, call them and they don't get back to you in a timely manner. Who is losing money here? You. Your website is down, you have no help and you are wondering " NOW WHAT "?
So even if it's a small company you want to go for always find out what their " Support " can do for you.