Website on a budget?

[gimmeagig]

Hi,
I don't have a website yet, but I think it's time.
I found this page on web hosting that gives me a few choices for web hosting.
http://b2evolution.net/web-hosting/budget-web-hosting-low-cost-lamp.php
The first one is iPage and it seems to be fine from what I'm reading.
I don't know too much about this subject yet. Can you guys give me a little crash course on what I might need to know regarding a website?
Thanks

 

[gimmeagig]

An additional question I have is this.
Some of these web hosting company's have ways to make you show up on searches. How does that work?