Choosing a web host

[karlinhigh]

I am not a web development expert. My tech support work is typically in other areas. But I have customer who suddenly needs to find another hosting company for their website. Web searches are overwhelming us, many dozens of different companies all claiming world-class everything.

In many markets I work with, when a customer has no specific needs beyond "I need an X," there's often a go-to provider somewhere that I can recommend by saying "If you don't know what you need, then you need this one."

HostGator? BlueHost?  Or is it a case of "Just pick one, they're all slightly different levels of good/bad, and it doesn't much matter."

[mmerlinn]

First, find out EXACTLY what the customer needs, then narrow your search winnowing out those that do not fit.

For example, if your customer (for whatever reason) cannot pay with a credit card, then sending your customer to a provider that only accepts credit cards is a waste of time.

[karlinhigh]

Thanks. This thing has no special needs whatsoever. The site needs PHP and a MySQL-type database, and that's it. It's similar to an auto dealer website, a listing of items available for sale at their physical locations.