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Bluehost Review
Looking for an honest Bluehost review?
Read on for my personal experience with Bluehost for the past four years!
I have been using Bluehost for web hosting since I started blogging four years ago. Web hosting is one of the only necessary expenses when starting a blog.
And getting web hosting is the first step to starting your blog!
There are dozens of web hosting companies out there, and it can be hard to know which one to choose with so many options. Here’s my honest review of Bluehost and why I think they’re the best choice for web hosting for bloggers.
Note: Don’t miss the special bonus at the end of this post!
What Is Web Hosting?
First of all, let’s talk about what web hosting even is.
If you want to start a blog (or any type of website), then web hosting is one of the first things you will need in order to get started.
Essentially, web hosting is the place where your website “lives” on the Internet. It’s where all the files making up your website are stored, and it’s what makes your website accessible to other people on the Internet.
There are two paths you can follow as a blogger when it comes to hosting.
The first is starting your blog on an existing platform such as Blogger or WordPress.com. The benefit of this is that it’s free and easy to set up. This is a good option for hobby bloggers who don’t want to make money blogging.
However, if you want to make money blogging, you will need what’s known as a self-hosted website. This is where your blog has its own .com domain name, and you are the sole owner of all the content on your website.
Bluehost is a web hosting company that allows you to start a self-hosted website.
The benefit of this is that it’s very affordable (as low as $1.99 a month) and still very easy to set up. (They do everything for you!) You’ll also be able to monetize your blog if it is self-hosted and make it into a real business.
How Does Bluehost Work?
In order to start a blog, all you need to do is sign up for a web hosting package with Bluehost. They offer 12-month, 24-month, and 36-month options.
The 12-month plan is the cheapest option, although you’ll save more money over time on the longer plans.
Related: Does Bluehost Charge Monthly or All at Once?
With Bluehost, you will also get a FREE domain name. This is the .com address of your blog. Normally, a domain name costs $10-15, so this is a great benefit.
If you haven’t decided on a domain name yet, you can still sign up for web hosting and get your blog set up now. Bluehost will give you a credit to come back and choose your domain name later, once you’ve decided on a name.
(Read this post for tips on choosing a blog name plus over 100 examples!)
Starting Your Blog with Bluehost
Check out my step-by-step guide on how to start a blog to see the exact steps you need to follow to get started, including screenshots.
Once you have done that, you’re pretty much set.
Bluehost will also guide you through the steps of choosing a WordPress theme for your blog (to customize the look and design) and getting everything set up.
Here are a few posts you might want to read before starting your blog:
- 7 Blog Niches That Make Money and Get Traffic
- 6 Things to Do Before Starting a Blog
- 30+ Examples of Blogs: Successful Blog Examples
- WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org: Which Is Better?
Now that I’ve explained how Bluehost works, read on for my personal experience!
My Experience with Bluehost
A lot of people say Bluehost is good for beginner bloggers, which is true.
But I honestly think they’re a good option even for more established bloggers.
I actually switched one of my blogs from Bluehost to a competitor once I started getting more traffic, because I had heard this other web hosting company was better at handling higher traffic and could improve my site speed.
However, I saw NO noticeable difference after switching. And this other web hosting actually had their servers go down unexpectedly TWICE, causing me to lose out on traffic and income. That never happened to me with Bluehost.
Being such a large company that is well-established and has been around for nearly twenty years, Bluehost is more reliable. And they have a very robust customer support team whenever you need help or have questions.
I’ve used their customer support chat feature dozens of times over the years, and I’ve never waited more than a minute or two to be connected to someone. Whereas with smaller web hosting companies, you might have to wait a day to get a response from customer support, even if your question is urgent.
Pros of Bluehost
I’m a huge fan of pros and cons lists, so here are the pros and cons of Bluehost:
- Affordable pricing: They offer some of the most affordable web hosting plans out there.
- Free domain name: They give you a free domain name for your first year, saving you an additional $10-15 when starting your blog.
- Domain name credit: Bluehost is the only web hosting company I know of that lets you start your blog now, even if you haven’t decided on a name yet, and come back later to choose your domain name.
- Free SSL and CDN: They offer a free SSL certificate for site security, and free Cloudfare CDN for site speed, something other web hosts charge for.
- Money-back guarantee: If you’re unhappy with their services for any reason, they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Customer support: 24/7 customer support with instant responses.
- Reliable service: Bluehost powers hundreds of thousands of websites and has very little downtime, compared to other web hosts with frequent outages.
Cons of Bluehost
There are a couple of cons to Bluehost, which are important to mention too:
- Domain renewal price: Although you get your domain name free for the first year, it costs on the higher end to renew it with Bluehost after a year (around $15-20.) This can be avoided by switching your domain name registration to a cheaper provider like Namecheap after the first year.
- Pricy addons: When signing up for a Bluehost account, they try to upsell you on several addons that I do not personally recommend. However, this can be easily avoided by unchecking the addons and making sure you are only paying for the Basic plan of web hosting when you check out.
Bluehost Review
In conclusion, I think Bluehost is a great choice for web hosting for bloggers.
If you want to start a blog and don’t want to be bogged down by the technical side of things, Bluehost is extremely beginner-friendly with its straightforward setup process and excellent customer support to answer your questions.
You also can’t beat them on price, making them a good option for new bloggers.
