Good advice above - steer clear of the 'Encore' market!! Yamaha Pacifica are good and a nice reliable entry-level guitar. Only let down is they have a bit of a dull tone IMO.
Personally, I bought a Squier Telecaster when I wanted to start playing guitar : Squier guitars are a bit of a lottery in terms of build quality, but if you get a good one they're reliable and stay in tune as well as a lot more expensive guitars.
The only other ones that may be worth a look are Epiphone (Gibson's 'budget' guitar brand), Vintage (I've never played one of these but I've heard they're okay), and Maverick (who no-one seems to have heard of but they do good - and quite cheap -guitars which have excellent pickups for an overdriven 'metal' sound)
Other than that, best advice is to take someone who knows guitars to a shop with you, and find one you like. It's like cars...you'll just 'know' when you've got the right one
