Thinking of Creating a Site?

I am planning to get all my stuff ( from blogger)over to my own site. But I don't know how to do it. I am not a professional web designer, not even close to it. But it is good to have your own self hosted blog. Then you don't need to fear google penalties and other advertisement restrictions.
So right now I am looking for some kind of a guide to web hosting. A guide to web hosting means, something like a tutorial. Where I will be told in detail, about various options and a review of different options.
I have found a post on a guide to web hosting. There are a few web hosting companies mentioned in it, like hostgator,hostmonster etc. I may decide to try hostmonster, as it is claimed to be a good web hosting service. But first I have to make good survey, then I will let you know, which web hosting company is good.