What are the best web hosting plans for individuals and businesses?

In fact top web hosting plans are tops because they are flexible and affordable. So really if they are good enough for a business to use they will most likely suite an individual as well.

The best web hosting plans have very similar features so once you find a good one the Internet world becomes just that little bit easier to live in. So here’s a list of what I looked for in my host provider:

1. Unlimited bandwidth. One of those things that the big guys all offer for almost the same rice as the basic package so why have a limit if you don’t have too.
2. Unlimited Web sites. Sounds insane but you may actually want to set up several web sites. For example you may want to build a web site for the twenty something daughter who still lives at home.  Get her going with her own online business and she might just about earn enough to pay rent and move out (one can dream).
3. Unlimited email addresses. Goes hand in hand with unlimited web sites.



4. SUPPORT obviously having a great plan with all sorts of near free add-on services is useless if you can’t get it to work. There is no way I am technically savvy. Just like a motor car I don’t care to learn how to build an engine I just want to know where to put the key and how to open the boot to fit the golf sticks in. At a push I will also fill the tank with petrol and occasionally put air in the tires. The rest of the things I leave to the experts. Hosting is no different.
5. Downtime is the hosting equivalent of safety standards for airlines. We all expect to jump on board an aeroplane and land safely at the far end. Good hosts are up and running 24/7 and all have a greater than 99% ’up’ time guarantee.
6. When it comes to add-on services automatic back-up of your site comes immediately to mind. Site security is next in the line and a static IP address option comes in third. You may pay for these add-ons but if you don’t have them ultimately they will cost you a lot more (imagine rebuilding you site from scratch).
7. Does the Host have cPanel (kind of an industry standard) and does it support Fantastico (how to set up WordPress, Joomla, Drupal etc) in just a few clicks.

So if your web host has web design and hosting plans that cover all of that then congratulations you have a winner!

Having said all that and armed with your new found knowledge the next question is how much should you pay for a great web hosting plan?

Naturally enough I would recommend the Host I use. I know some will have different opinions but as far as I am concerned I would rate thse guys at the top of the tree and for the price they are unbelievable.

What’s more the online ‘chat’ for technical assistance is available 24/7 and they are without doubt the most helpful bunch you could ever meet. I kid you not, when I think back to when I first got started half the time I logged in to ask question that was so dumb the guys on the help just fixed it for me rather than waste hours of my time trying to teach me how to do a setup step I have never needed to do again.

If you want to set up a new web site using Fantastico from the cPanel it is all done in less than 5 minutes.

One final point is if you are frightened to transfer your site to a new host don’t be. Naturally enough Justhost will do all that for you for less than $50 (US) last time I checked.