Web hosting services is how you get a blog (or Web site) online. They are the conduit to the Internet. Today, Web hosting has gotten very affordable inexpensive low cheap dirt cheap. For as low as $4.95 a month, you can sign-up with a first-rate Web hosting company and be online within minutes. That’s the good news.

The not-so-good news is that there are some fairly unreliable Web hosting companies located in far-off places mixed among the good ones. So, the challenge is how to pick a good one.

Here are my tips:

1. Where is the hosting service really located?  If you live in the U.S., I would advise against signing up with a hosting company in Berzerkistan.  It is advisable to use a Web hosting company that is located in the country where you live.  Then, if something were to go wrong, you have a better chance at a solution. To find out, enter “top web hosting” in Google, and pick up the telephone and start calling.  Ask each company where its headquarters is located and where are its servers.  If the servers are located abroad, cross them off your list.
2. Where is technical service?  Ask Web hosting companies where its technical customer service is located.  Again, if any part of it is located abroad, forget it or brush up on your Berzerkistanese.  Not that I have anything against Berzerkistan but when I have an important Web hosting question, I don’t want language to be a barrier to find a solution.
3. What’s with the weird names of hosting companies?  Host Monster … Easy CGI … Blue Host … Host Gator.  Nearly all of them have weird names but it goes with the territory.  They are all good.  I use Lunar Pages and think they are terrific.  Their servers, by the way, are located in Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area.
4. Does price make a difference?  In most cases, no.  Regardless of what you pay, you want free setup and a gigantic amount of disk space and bandwidth.  Nearly all companies are in the same price ballpark.
5. Seek opinions.  Ask people who have blogs and Web sites what service they are using.  Check what they say against your own homework.  

Many of us have horror stories about Web hosting:   A friend told me that he lost everything when his hosting service in the Philippines suddenly went out-of-business.  All of the sites I supervise crashed when my former Web hosting company, which had been located in Kentucky, shifted operations to the Ukraine.

But I believe my tips might help to find reliable service.