I make my living on the Internet. Been doing that full time since 2008 and part time since 2000. I have multiple hosting accounts and have used nearly all the major companies out there. Here's a few of my thoughts for the entrepreneur looking to get an ecommerce site up and running.
GoDaddy. Avoid them if you can. They don't have the best reputation in the industry. It's often said they spend way more money for their marketing than anything else. My personal experiences have been along those lines. Many people have had a problem with their Terms of Service rules. They can, and have, taken domains and hosting accounts away from people for the silliest of reasons. You give them this right when you sign up for their services. Most people will never know there's a problem until it's too late.
Yahoo. See above. Antiquated at best, and cost for what you get is astronomical.
Learn to use WordPress. It's a free blogging platform that allows you to build your own website. Most hosts have the ability to allow their users to install it with one or two clicks from your hosting account dashboard. It can't get any easier than that. Plus, there are literally hundreds of thousands of free templates to use with WordPress to make your site look professional. There are also add on programs (called plugins) that allow you site to do a lot of really cool and useful things, like accept PayPal payments. Most of these plugins are free and can be easily integrated into your website with a click or two.
As for a good Web Hosting company, Hostgator is an excellent one. I've had a reseller account with them since 2006 or 2007 and only had small problems which they took care of quickly. You can save a lot of money with most Web host by buying your hosting by the year. Currently with Hostgator if you buy 3 years of hosting, you can get it at a discount and it will average out at $3.96 per month. The Hatchling plan is good enough for nearly everyone getting started out. No need to get a larger hosting plan when starting off.
Stay away from free hosting like Blogger and Webs.com. Remember, nothing is free, you're going to pay for it somehow. The problem with free services is the Terms of Service rules that you have to agree to when signing up. A lot like GoDaddy above, they can shut your sites down in a heartbeat. In most cases, you'll never get a warning either. All it could take is some of your competition getting some of their friends to send in complaints about your site. On some, they'll run ads whether you like it or not. On others, you'll be very limited to what you can and cannot do. It's better to pay for your own domain and your own hosting.
If anyone has any questions regarding your sites or hosting, feel free to PM me and I'd be happy to try and help.
