Bluehost is one of the first WordPress hosting platforms that many small business owners can probably name. It is a very popular option among small and new businesses and there are several reasons why. And you would have lots of company using Bluehost as there are more than two million websites hosted on their servers.
However, does this mean that Bluehost is a great option for your website? This article will attempt to answer that question for you.
Bluehost Overview
Bluehost has been around since about 2003, so they’re one of the most established hosting platforms available and they have the experience that allows them to offer a solid experience. Due to their experience and the plans that they make available, Bluehost has got a very large customer base that can be very reassuring.
Bluehost is so well respected within the industry that WordPress even recommends Bluehost to host their websites. But they don’t just host WordPress websites. They host a variety of applications including Joomla, Drupal, phpBB and more than 75 other open source applications that can help you.
The host can also provide several different levels of hosting plans. You can have shared, WordPress, VPS, Reseller and dedicated servers. Therefore, you can match the needs of your website with a good plan. Other hosts don’t offer this for you.
Why Use Bluehost?
There are numerous reasons why you would want to use Bluehost. To start with, you can get a reliable service. Uptime is one of the most important aspects of running a website and you can be sure that your website will up most of the time. During any given time period they have an uptime of 99.6% and this includes downtime when they’re performing regular maintenance on their server.
This only equates to a couple of hours of downtime every year. And based on industry averages, this is above the average uptime of hosts.
Bluehost is also fast, their average loading speed for a page is 641ms. This is really important. The faster the load time, the fewer customers that will bounce. According to statistics, as soon as the website page takes longer than 1 second to load, you’re going to lose about 32% of the visitors to a bounce. And for every second it takes to load your website, you will have lost 7% of the revenue. The 641ms loading time is really impressive.
In addition, faster loading times can help you rank higher on Google, which is always important for building traffic levels to your website. To help you be faster, there's also access to a free CDN.
Bluehost is also great for security. This can be a little surprising for some because they’re one of the cheapest for introductory offers. However, they take security very seriously. Higher-level plans come with Spam Experts, domain privacy and server backups. Therefore, you can recover and protect yourself from lots of threats that small businesses find themselves the target of.
In addition, setting up a WordPress website is really easy. There is a one-click WordPress install, multiple CMS integrations and there are additional eCommerce plugins that can help you build a website that you will be using for years to come and making a decent revenue off.
And this can all be done whether you’re an experienced website developer or not. Bluehost is really easy to use. There is a customer portal that is clean and intuitive and the cPanel is excellent. Most of the actions that you will need to take can be completed with a simple point and click action. If you do run into trouble, you can also benefit from their excellent customer service. This is run through live chat, phone and email. There is also an extensive knowledge base that is packed with information, guides and answers to help you fix problems.
What are the Negatives of Using Bluehost?
While Bluehost is one of the top options available, there are some things that might discourage you from signing up to them. For one, while they offer you great prices to start with, they only last for the first couple of years. After this, your monthly prices will increase substantially. For instance, the most basic account costs less than $3 per month but can then rise to nearly $9 per month. This is a significant increase but it’s still not a really expensive hosting option.
But there is a problem as well with the lowest price options and that is the restrictions that are placed upon your web application. You can only have one website, the storage space is rather limited and there is limited security on this option. In addition, you can only have five email addresses.
If you want to have more power to your online presence, you’re going to have to invest more into Bluehost. However, when you’re on those higher plans, limits are removed and you can have some of the best experiences of hosting a website.
Final Word: Is Bluehost a Good Choice?
Bluehost is a highly recommended option when it comes to hosting your website. Not only does it have the features that can help you get your website online quickly. With free migration of WordPress websites, beginner-friendly interfaces and more, you can be sure that you will have a positive experience building and running your website, regardless of the level of expertise you have.
However, it is highly recommended that you don’t go for the shared server on a basic level. This is going to limit your ability to run a successful website. Instead, go for a package that has more power to it. Even at the higher costs, the affordability is much better than you can expect on numerous other hosting platforms.
Finally, it is important to note that Bluehost isn’t just recommended by us. Those who developed and maintain WordPress also recommend Bluehost and with more than 2 million websites hosted on the platform, there must be something in this recommendation that makes them a great choice.
