Deciding which web hosting company to use is a tough decision for small business owners. The fact remains, you need a hosting company that is not only fast and responsive but also reliable.
A favorite web hosting company for small business owners is Bluehost. It’s widely recommended in all kinds of circles and industries. You might be wondering if Bluehost is the right hosting company for your business website.
In this Bluehost review, we’ll cover some of the most important Bluehost features as well as a few things that you need to know about this company before you make a decision.
Bluehost is a U.S based company with headquarters in Utah. Currently, they have two data centers, one in Provo, Utah, and the other in Orem, Utah. At the moment, they don’t have data centers in any other country.
The company is one of the top hosting providers worldwide, with a wide range of hosting solutions and services. Besides the shared and WordPress hosting they also have VPS and dedicated servers.
When it comes to hosting companies, I believe Bluehost is one of the best for small business owners because not only are their plans cheap but their customer support is excellent. They also have a website builder and detailed instructions on how to get a site up and running in minutes.
Recommended by WordPress • Get a WordPress website up and running in a matter of minutes. WordPress-specific hosting solutions are also offered.
Unmetered Bandwidth and Unlimited Website Storage • Bluehost plans do not place limits on bandwidth or storage space. There’s one exception we’ll discuss later on.
Free SSLs on Every Plan • Add an extra layer of security to your website with no extra cost.
No need to worry about bandwidth or storage limits • Every plan, besides Basic, doesn’t limit your data in any way. There’s no need to worry if your website is too large.
Stable website uptime • Bluehost doesn’t share their exact uptime stats, but most users can confirm it’s around the 99% mark. You can rest assured that your website will always be online. Very reliable.
Get help when you need it • When you need assistance, you can reach out to their support team via live chat, phone hotline, or support ticket. They’re always waiting to help out.
Earlier this year Bluehost released a a pretty cool new promo video with the slogan” “The Perfect Place to Dream,” check it out below…
Bluehost offers a wide range of shared hosting solutions, with prices starting from $3.95 a month to $13.95. To be specific, Bluehost has four shared hosting plans:
Basic – $3.95/month
Plus – $5.95/month
Choice Plus – Same as above
Pro – $13.95/month.
They also offer dedicated WordPress-packages. As you might expect, each plan has a range of services and features. We won’t be comparing them in too much detail in this article. Keep in mind, Bluehost offers a 30-day money back guarantee.
When it comes to prices, the most important thing that you need to know is the advertised price is for a 36-month subscription. In the long run, the 36-month package has the best discounts. You can also choose between 12, 24, and 36 months, although the monthly discounts aren’t as good.
Another thing to keep in mind is all of Bluehost’s hosting plans, except Basic, offer unlimited websites, unmetered bandwidth, unlimited storage on solid-state drives. With Basic, you can only connect one website.
Out of all the hosting options, Bluehost’s Basic plan is the only one that has strict limits. For example, website space is limited to 50 GB, email accounts are limited to five, and email storage is set at 100mbs.
The good news is one free SSL (Let’s Encrypt) is included with every plan, including Basic. A security certificate is very important, and it’s something every business website needs to have.
The bottom line is Bluehost offers decent hosting packages for reasonable prices. If you plan to make more than one website, I recommend the Plus or Choice Plus plans.
Bluehost is a flexible company, and they offer a wide range of payment options. You can pay with most major credit cards, PayPal, and even checks or money orders.
Most web hosting companies do not accept PayPal, so it’s great to find one that does. Now let’s take a look at Bluehost’s performance and other features.
There’s nothing more frustrating than having your server go down, especially when it could mean missing out on clients or sales.
Bluehost does not offer a specific uptime percentage, but they do resolve issues as quickly as possible, usually within 15-minutes. While Bluehost doesn’t give any public uptime percentage, most customers claim it’s close to a 99% uptime.
Another pointer to keep in mind is that Bluehost does automatically create a backup of your website but it’s not set in stone. They recommend creating manual backups on your own and saving the files off-site. This is the safest practice for any website.
In short, there’s a chance that your website can go down, but it’s very rare. You can also contact support in a number of ways, so your server will be back up and running before you know it.
Speaking of customer support, every member can get support via a number of channels, for instance, live-chat, their phone hotline, or submit a good-old-fashion support ticket. Whenever we ran into an issue, the Bluehost support team quickly resolved it.
Bluehost offers several add-on services, some of which are included in their plans. With the Basic membership, none of these services are included for free, but you can choose to add them to your bill.
SiteLock Security
Codeguard Basic
Bluehost SEO Tools Start
Office 365 Mailbox
Spam Experts
Domain Privacy + Protection
Dedicated IP
And several others.
With Choice Plus and Pro memberships, almost all of these features are included in the total price, so you get a lot more than what you expected.
Another important feature that’s included for free is Cloudflare. You can enable the Cloudflare service from inside your Cpanel for free. There’s a paid version too.
Cloudflare can improve your website’s performance because it places a copy of the files and content on data centers around the world. It also helps against cyberattacks, such as DDOS and other spam attacks.
I just signed up and the switch over was very good. With other companies, my site has been down for hours, this one was seamless. Email switch over went just as smoothly. Samantha, TrustPilot
Pretty sure I just fell in love with my tech support guy from Bluehost. Brooklyn Elder, Twitter
Bluehost is very cost-effective and offers good support. I wanted to switch my primary domain to a new one I purchased and had problems. I spoke to an online agent and everything was sorted out in less than 30 minutes. They did what they said they would & didn’t try and sell me anything else: a first in my experience with any web company! Ian S., TrustPilot
The customer service experience I had yesterday was top shelf. The rep was persistent until she found the answer to my email dilemma. We were on the phone together for 45 minutes, and she was knowledgeable, smart, and patient. Thank you, Melissa. Mary, TrustPilot
To summarize, if you’re looking for a great hosting company, I highly recommend Bluehost. They have all kinds of hosting solutions for every kind of business.
If you’re not sure which service is best for your needs, you can always call their 24/7 customer hotline for assistance. Remember, they offer a 30-day refund policy. So there’s no risk.
You’re free to try out their service. If you don’t think it’s a good fit, then you’re entitled to a full refund. No questions asked.
Thanks for taking the time to read this Bluehost review.
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