First Paid Host - Which Host To Chose

I have just made a personal website using photoshop, html, css and php. My site contains an index page, a gallery page with 8 photos, a contact page with a form and an extra page with some quotes. I am planning to use a paid host for the first time. Based on feedbacks from some of my sitepoint friends, I decided to go in for shared hosting. I thought of using Hostdogs.com as they have the option of a monthly billing cycle. I thought that I have the option of changing my host after a month if I am not happy with them. I have also read a lot about Hostgator.com. A lot of sitepoint members seem hooked to it.

1. Can anyone give an opinion as to which host I should go in for? Hostdogs also give a free domain. Is there any reason I should go in for Hostgator instead of Hostdogs?

2. One more question, I have heard that once I have a site running, I can earn money through the advertisements placed on it? How do I place advertisements on my site?

3. One last and very important question is whether it is right to go in for shared hosting at this point of time. I just read this

Quote:

When you look for a suitable host, be sure to check out the amount of bandwidth that will be available to your site. Even a site that doesn't require a great deal of data transfer per month could run slowly if you're hosted on a shared server; particularly if you are on the same server as a more popular or bandwidth-intensive site.
The more sites hosted on a server, the more likely they are to compete with each other for available resources, including bandwidth. This is why you may notice a reduction in server response times during busy periods, or during a sudden peak in traffic at a busier site on a server that you share.

This made me wonder whether I should go in for shared hosting. But then mine is a personal home page which may not have so much of traffic.

4. What does the paragraph below mean? How does one handle ones registration manually?

Self-Management (no cost)
Select this option if you prefer to handle your registration manually.Your web host can establish service with any Top-Level Domain (TLD), international or domestic.