Click here for some tips on what to look for in a good hosting provider.

The Top 11 Web Hosting Providers

1. IXWebhosting – Established in 1999 IXWebHosting is one of the few companies who own and operate their own datacenter. Hosting plans start at only $4.95 per month with a dedicated ip address, 500mb of disk space, 5GB of data transfer and 1000 Email/FTP accounts. They currently boast over 37,000 worldwide customers, on over 750 servers. They have a zero-risk 100% money-back guarantee, in addition to a 99.9% uptime guarantee!

2. LunarPages – They offer 40 GB of transfer for only $7.95/mo, Serving over 50,000 websites, 4 year hosting history, PHP, JSP, ASP & PERL, 1000 MB Storage, Toll-free telephone support, FTP Access, Microsoft FrontPage™, Thawte verified, Other cheap plans packed with features also available.  With a 30 day unconditional money back guarantee, and live telephone support, LunarPages is hard to beat!

3. Dreamhost – Dreamhost offers 500 MB of space, and 25 GB of traffic and they also offer unlimited MySQL databases. As a added bonus, they also include up to 15 shell accounts per web hosting accounts. Most other web hosting companies by default don’t offer shell accounts, and even when they do it is usually limited to one. Finally, they offer up to three domain support per account and fifteen sub-domains. Dreamhost tends to be one of the more reliable web hosting companies.  They have people constantly monitoring their data center on a twenty four hour basis..

4. IPowerWeb –  IPowerWeb is a strong player in the web hosting business, with over 200,000 members, many awards for quality and reliability, and a slick new template-based website building service called iPage.  IPowerweb has one shared Unix plan and one shared Windows plan. Both are solid offerings. The Unix plan includes the normal things, such as PHP, Perl, MySQL, and so forth, and the Windows plan includes its own staples of ASP, .NET, MySQL, and so forth. What makes them stand out is that both also feature content feeds, a choice of shopping carts, and a marketing package that includes Overture..

5. GlobalHost – What distinguishes GlobalHost isn't that their web hosting is different, but the support sure is. Just visit their site and browse for a while. A live chat will popup and a professional sales manager will answer all your questions. Try their support as well - 7 minutes guaranteed answer. This sounds a bit extreme, but even so they guarantee this response time.  Their plan might seem expensive at first blush - $9.95/mo for 75 MB storage and 2 GB traffic, but considering that they give you 6 months FREE as bonus and additional 1 month FREE if you use American Express credit card the final price per month is getting as low as $8.02/mo or $7.57/mo with an American Express credit card.  

6. EasyCGI – EasyCGI is great for anyone looking for a Windows host. If you aren’t, then they still get the job done nicely. They offer phone support during business hours, and they have good quality hardware including 2.8 Ghz Xeon+ server speed, Win2000 operating system, backup power, Dell PowerEdge servers and more. There data center is excellent, and is one of the few hosts that provide Windows based hosting. Linux/Unix Hosting Plans start at $7.96 for basic web hosting with 300MB storage and 15GB bandwidth.

7. ApolloHosting – Apollo Hosting has over 30,000 customers worldwide. Apollo Hosting also offers e-Commerce solution package. They includes Miva Merchant software, Bronze Miva Support, free merchant account setup through Ecommerce Exchange, Automated Secure Certificate Installation and SSL secure server. However, all these doesn't come free. Apollo Hosting was one of the first companies to offer 24/7/365 Live Technical Support Chat and toll-free phone support, and Total Solutions Hosting. Apollo Web hosting provides excellent customer support for web hosting. Linux/Unix Hosting Plans start at $6.96/mo with 200MB storage and 8GB bandwidth.

8. StartLogic – Startlogic is an excellent web hosting company that provides excellent customer support and a bundle of features for cheap. They offer a range of hosting products including shared hosting (both Unix and Windows), virtual servers and dedicated servers. Startlogic offers 24 hour live technical support which is a bonus in this industry. You can contact a representative any time during the day or night and request assistance over the phone, email or on their excellent live chat feature. Furthermore, for $7.50 per month, they offer a free domain, 1 GB storage, 40 GB transfer and excellent web templates. An excellent and highly regarded top-tier hosting company. Great for those companies looking to take advantage of their shared and dedicated hosting programs.

9. MidPhase – MidPhase has a reputation for excellent hosting reliability at low prices. Midphase is an excellent and reliable company if you are looking to host a small to mid size website. Their new website packages also offer unlimited bandwidth. They offer one of the lowest priced hosting solutions on the Internet today. 1500mb of disk space and unlimited data transfer can be had for as little as $95.40/yr. ($7.95/mo.). MidPhase also throws in a free domain name and a 99.98% uptime guarantee, which makes this not only a great deal, but one that's too tempting to pass up.

10. Yahoo! – In addition to their other product offerings such as: search, directory, malls auctions, shopping, etc Yahoo! offers a full suite of hosting products for small businesses. The best part about dealing with Yahoo!, is you know they are not going to go away. They are the safest pick on the internet. A great start for beginners. Their packages are as fully featured as the other web hosts, nor are they cheap...but they are the most reliable host on the Internet. In addition, they have complimentary services such as malls and eCommerce that you can start marketing your products to the millions who go to Yahoo! everyday. Take advantage of their 24/7 toll free-support desk in multi-languages. Hosting plans start at $11.95/mo for 50 MB storage and 20 GB in transfers.

11. Infinology – Infinology always provides a great deal of disk space for your dollar, especially their latest special of 9,000 MB of disk space and 50 GB of bandwidth for $6.95/mo. They will even throw in a free domain to get you started. Infinology provides excellent value for your money.  Infinology has an uptime guarantee of 99.9%. Their data center is top-notch, and they have exceptional back-up procedures and redundant servers. They also provide toll-free support. If you need lots of storage, this is the provider for you!

How about ONE PACKAGE that does it ALL?

You asked for it you got it!  Site Build It is a software package that handles everything from domain registration, setting up your hosting account, setting up your web site to get at or near the top of the search engines.  If that sounds good to you, you should definitely check it out. Site Build It is a one stop shop for getting your business up and running on the internet. Beginners will especially appreciate the ease with which your online business can be set up.  I highly recommend finding out more about Site Build It.  This package is also a big time saver - even for experienced web professionals.

How About A Cool Domain Name?

Did you know that thousands of domain names expire every day?  Chances are you will not get the exact domain name you are looking for - however, if you check out DeletedDomains.com you might just find a close or exact match.  This FREE service shows you when domain names are set to expire.  Time it right, and the domain name you are looking for just might be ready and waiting for you!