1. Use a popular web host.
That cheapo one might be an uncommitted reseller. I used one recently. Very cheap, and very helpful. Then my site went ‘missing’. By the Grace Of God I was able to get in contact with the owner, and make a backup, before the service was closed down. I found out later he had only about six customers.
Use a popular web host. Avoid ones that are trying to attract customers by undercutting rates to silly levels. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.
2. Their Google PageRank gives a clue as to how popular they are.
This will irk the smaller hosts, but if your site is a serious one, put it on a serious host. Web hosting costs peanuts these days. People can be funny about spending an extra $5 a month. You’ll wish you’d paid $500 when your site goes skew-whiff, and you can’t get a reply from their technical support.
3. Send them an email or two. See how long it takes to get a reply.
This can be very revealing. If they take two days to get back to a potential customer, how long do they take to answer their _existing_ customers?
4. Check out their forums; how busy...