That depends on may things :-
1. Your budget, depending on that you should be able to short list your host from a list of providers.
2. What you want to host ( If it is a business site or a personal )
3. What all technologies you need on your website ? ( html only or db driven site ? PHP or asp or Tomcat ? )
4. How much traffic you expect to your site ?
5. Who is your targeted audience - if your targeted audience in in India and you have your site hosted in the US can result a slow website to your users.
6. Reputation of the hosts you have short-listed.
7. Do they provide a personal touch for you or consider you as just a small potato in their basket ?( make some initial mail contact with them and get a feel )
8. Read some review about the selected hosts and enquire about their support. Keep in mind that for a web hosting business, its the support that matters.
9. Ask the short-listed hosts for a 10Mb / 100Mb file so that you can test the download speed.
10. Inquire about their backup policy and make sure that you are thorough with their Terms and conditions.
Once you have done these carefully, the best host will come up from the list.
PS: Do not go by their pricing alone - Cheap host doesnt mean good host always.
