Hi Class,
Well I decided to do my assignment on Hosting Providers as with regards to Domain Names I feel I'm pretty well versed. Between 3 different Domain providers I have over 75 domain names. That's not to brag! Actually it's a little embarrassing. I get these great ideas and register the domain name and then I never do anything with them.
But... With regards to Hosting Providers I currently use 3 different services in addition to hosting several domains on my own server in my garage. Steve is right though, if the server is down, your site is down and you are not making any money.
That's why I don't host any of my bread and butter sites on my own server.
My favorite Hosting service is www.IXHosting.com I have used them for over 2 years for my www.equip4sale.com site and have found them to be very user friendly and very reliable.
My next favorite would be www.HostGater.com. I use them for my www.golfvideos4u.com and in addition to being the most cost effective the dashboard is very user friendly and support is very good. Last on the list of the services that I use is www.Yahoo.com. I only used Yahoo because I purchased my original Domain Names there and didn't know any better.
In conclusion you should shop around and see which one you feel the most comfortable with and can use with the level of your personal abilities.