I've thought about the shadier sounding websites like BitInstant, but I think it's safer to stick with the more difficult but established services.
I agree, trusted and true is a good way to go but let me warn you about coin base, they are a good idea but with the volatility of bitcoins you can lose a lot of money due to time difference's.
example- I bought ten coins on the up swing for 228.00 per bitcoin. they said that they were behind and that they would get them to me by Monday the 15th. I was like ok its going up anyways. and the day before i did the same thing got some for like 168.00 per bitcoin. ten more coins. so now i have sent 228x10=2,280.00 + 168x10=1,680 for a total of 3,960.00 if i would have got them right when i bout them i could have made money by selling at 266 or say i wated till 240 even. i would have done ok for myself but instead i got my coins yesterday. 20 coins times 60 =1,200 1,200-true cost of 3,960 is -2,760
yep i lost 2,760 all because it took them over a week for them to deliver. I warn anyone who uses coinbase that you could loose A LOT OF MONEY. im NOT wealthy, in fact im lower middle class tax bracket. so this is a good deal of money form me. and i think that there are a lot of people out there scared of bitcoin for one because its so different and info intensive to understand it, two it intangible, and three there are horror stories like these that make people say fuck that ill just not buy bitcoins...this will not help rise the price of bitcoins. so from my pain i have learned that there is a need for a quicker service but less then 4% fee plus 3.95 service fee.