Changing WordPress Hosts

I was really, really nervous about switching from GoDaddy to BlueHost. But it was high time. And when I actually did the switch, it was almost too easy! Here are the steps I took. No guarantees it will work for you—but it worked for me on 4 different WordPress installs so far! And I’ve yet to see directions with these actual steps, and they worked so well I’d do them again anytime. No database edits necessary!

First of all, for the blog that had multiple team members, I asked them to refrain from drafting any posts or even logging into their account until I let them know the transfer was complete (this wouldn’t be necessary until step 5, I don’t think, but I didn’t want to risk them uploading any images that I wouldn’t be downloading in step 2).
Downloaded the wp-content folder off my old host via FTP (I used Fire-FTP), as well as additional files/folders like images and favicon.
On my new host, installed WordPress with SimpleScripts on my new host.
On my new host, uploaded the wp-content folder I’d backed up via FTP, overwriting the wp-content folder that had just been installed with the SimpleScripts install.
In my “old” WP dashboard, did a database backup via the WP DB Backup plugin. Then I cleaned it up with the WP Optimize plugin and downloaded another (much smaller) database backup.
In the new host’s cPanel, imported the smaller backed up database file via phpMyAdmin.
On my old host, uploaded a “moving” page named index.html (only necessary for knowing exactly when the new install goes live—skip steps 7 and 8 for zero site downtime, you’ll just have to get ingenious to figure out if the new install is working at step 10).
On my old host, changed the name of the index.php file to index.bak.
With my domain registrar, changed to the new nameservers.
Waited for the WordPress blog to show up, instead of the moving page.
In the new WP dashboard, saved my permalink settings again (very important step, even though it seems like it’s unnecessary!).
In the new WP dashboard, updated all plugins.
Tested links and made edits on the new install. But didn’t delete old hosting right away, “just in case.”