A Detailed Review of Bluehost as a Web Host
Now that you decided to start a website, you need a web host. While you can use free web hosting sites, it would only give you a limited amount of flexibility and customizability of your website. Thus, if you are serious about building your online brand, then finding a web host company is the sure path to take.
However, there are hundreds of web host companies out there. If you are not careful, you can quickly get overwhelmed and confused with the many choices. Hence, we are going to review a web host that may just meet your needs.
Bluehost
Bluehost is known as one of the largest web hosting companies in the world today. Founded in 2003, it now serves over two million domains together with its sister companies, iPage, FastDomain, and HostMonster. It has a 50,000-square foot facility in Utah, and it employs over 750 dedicated and hardworking people.
Hosting Plans
Bluehost provides some of the most competitive hosting prices in the market today. Their hosting plans are mainly divided into three namely; Shared, Virtual Private Server, and Dedicated. Each category comes with various sub-plans and prices to help you pay only for the things that you really need.
If you are a newcomer in the online world, some of these terms may be unfamiliar to you. Hence, it is but right to give you a brief background.
- Shared Hosting – a popular choice for beginners. It uses a single web server which serves multiple internet domain names. Thus, shared hosting is not sufficient for websites with high traffic.
- Virtual Private Server (VPS) – copies a dedicated server while staying in a shared hosting environment. It gives users a higher level of customizability of their website. Since it creates a separate server, it tends to be more secure compared to shared hosting.
- Dedicated Hosting – this is the choice of many serious and big websites. It has a dedicated server and can act as a host to multiple clients or users. It comes with a higher level of security as compared to Shared Hosting and Virtual Private Server.
What You will Love About Bluehost
Bluehost offers a lot of great advantages and features that come with their hosting plans. While they are too many to mention, here are some of the things that you need to know.
- WordPress made easy – Bluehost has been partnering with WordPress for more than ten years now. Throughout those years, Bluehost has mastered the art of streamlining their system with WordPress. You will love the one-click WordPress installation of Bluehost.
Moreover, Bluehost has the right knowledge and skills to provide 24/7 WordPress support. They have expert Bluehost customer service associates who are always ready to handle your concerns real time. They are reachable via phone, email, or live chat.
- 24/7 Support – like what has been mentioned above, you can contact any Bluehost agent any time of the day and any day of the week. You can ask them not just about WordPress, but also other issues or topics related to your Bluehost experience.
- High Level of Security – Bluehost is an established company that has made great strides in maintaining the security level of all the web domains they host. To secure your log-ins, Bluehost offers an efficient password management scheme. It includes single sign-in and two-factor authentication processes to keep malicious elements at bay. Bluehost also assists clients in creating secure passwords.
- Money-back guarantee – Bluehost makes it a top priority to keep their clients happy and satisfied throughout their stay with Bluehost. The company offers a 30-day hosting money-back guarantee in case you are not satisfied with their service, or the hosting plan you chose does not meet your current needs. Of course, placing a money-back guarantee policy shows the high confidence of Bluehost in their products and services.
What You will not Love About Bluehost
While there are a lot of things to love about Bluehost, it still has to improve some aspects of its services.
For one, if you have already shopped around for a web hosting plan, you probably have noticed that Bluehost provides a pricier rate compared to others. That might be because they already have an established name and brand.
Moreover, Bluehost is aggressive in promoting add-ons that can quickly increase your web hosting expenses. Of course, Bluehost’s add-ons are super helpful, and if you have the money, they can be a significant investment.
Bluehost has been around for many years now—14 years to be exact. Throughout the years of their existence, they have not escaped getting involved with some controversies.
In March 2009, a popular news company featured a story about Bluehost censoring some web pages from citizens who live in rogue states.
Another controversy that some of you might remember happened in February 2011 when Bluehost took down a religious website on the grounds of hate speech.
A significant security breach happened in March 2015 when the Syrian Electronic Army hacked Bluehost and its other sister companies.
Moreover, the customer service of Bluehost might get positive or negative reviews, depending on who you ask. While some customers find Bluehost’s customer service agents as friendly, helpful, and fast, others don’t agree. Maybe, it just boils to the type of queries Bluehost gets. There are just questions or issues that are difficult to address over the phone or live chat.
Looking at these controversies and negative points alone does not negate the fact that Bluehost has remained to be an active player in the web hosting industry.
Should You Choose Bluehost?
Now that you have an overview of what Bluehost can offer, you can now make a better decision. Perhaps, the most significant strength of Bluehost is its experience. Not all web hosts have more than a decade of existence.
Moreover, there are just other things that you can’t know until you experience using Bluehost yourself. It is a good thing to take advantage of Bluehost’s money-back guarantee. Take it for a ride and see if you are happy with Bluehost. After all, you can always cancel your subscription and get a refund.
So, give Bluehost a try today and see what it can do for your website and business.