Discussion
Check out this site--Lifehacker, they have some really cool stuff on there.
http://lifehacker.com/5545568/five-best-personal-web-hosts
They recently took a vote from their visitors and these are the top five that they came up with.
I have used Dreamhost the last 5 years and I have been very happy with them and their customer service.
I use 1&1 for all my hosting - http://www.1and1.com - and I host about a dozen sites on it without any problem. I even have the next-to-cheapest package that costs me less than $10 per month. It has all the databases and stuff needed to setup blog easily, like Wordpress.
I buy all my domains through 1&1 too because it then is easily added to my hosting package. You can of course buy domains elsewhere and host them at 1&1 if you want.
I've been using 1&1 for over 5 years and can count on one hand how many times I've had a problem with them. The few times there was a problem, their customer service has been quick and easy to work with, quite pleasant and all over e-mail.
You can probably find cheaper hosting but you often get what you pay for. It also depends on how techie you are. If you're new to the whole thing then you'll want a place like 1&1 that has all the nice tools to make it easy for you.
Nonetheless, I can't recommend 1&1 enough. Good product and good service.
I use GoDaddy for all of my sites hosting. Affordable and easy to deal with.