First off a mail order chip isn't going to help much because you can tune the a/f ratio through the mail. The only thing that really gets changed is the timing tables which in turn will give you a little power but nothing too major. It wont help your drive-ability or you a/f ratio.
Second off, a list of mods would be helpful to people trying to help you. As you can see a lot of us put our cars in our signatures with the mod list so we can help see what you need.
As for tuning, the easiest thing to do is get a chip and have it dyno tuned by a pro. Now if you plan on modding more in the future (major mods) you will have to go back and get it tuned again and pay again.
If you adventurous and are willing to take the time to read (alot) and learn I would suggest self tuning with data logging and a wideband o2 sensor. Easier option is the Anderson PMS, I use and a lot of people use TwEECer, but it has a steeper learning curve. Theres a few other options similar to the tweecer that came out recently a bit cheaper but I do not have experience with these.
With self tuning you can go back and tune anytime you want to, it does have more of a starting cost but will pay for itself if you mod in the future plus its fun to learn about how our cars computers work.
I went through Johnson Motorsport for my chip. I think it's something like JMS Chip & Performance Center. They did a pretty decent job with the chip. Guys like that do so many chips, if you give them your combo, they can match it up pretty good. My car idles at 900rpms nice and smooth, and never gets a CEL. I get a little pinging on a hot day at mid throttle, but nothing to be concerned with. Now that's on a 347 with a Trick Flow 3 cam, hogged out Canfield heads, and puts 490/635 to the wheels. So I got to be honest, nothing beats a dyno tune, but you can do pretty well without one for a lot less money via mail order.