Bluehost Review

Bluehost is probably one of the more well known of all the hosting providers out there today and for good reason, as it has been around since 1996 and claims to host “millions of domains.” It also claims to generate 20,000 new customers a month, proving its popularity. Bluehost is most proud of its technology, which is what sets it apart from other hosting companies. They have their own datacenter, as well as secondary data centers, and build their own servers and custom Linux kernel. This means that if you encounter a problem, you will only have to deal with Bluehost and not several companies.

Bluehost provides unlimited disk storage, domain hosting, POP3 and IMAP secure e-mail accounts, forwarding e-mail accounts, add-on domains, parked domains, subdomains, and site transfer. It uses cPanel control panel, a file manager, and has three webmail clients in case you want to manage things from your browser. They also have FTP access. Other features include customizable error pages and Cronjobs, log files and site statistics, and spam assassin protection.

Many CGI and database options are supported. This includes JavaScript, DHTML, Flash, and other programming languages that do not require add-ons or script installations. Free website scripts include form mail, message forums, social networking, blogging platforms, poll and survey software, Joomla CMS, and many more. Almost all of these are one-click installations. e-Commerce features include password protected directories, SSL secure server, and numerous shopping carts. Bluehost also supports multimedia.

With all of these features, even neophyte webmasters should be able to do anything they can think of on their sites without too much trouble. You can even try out the services using Bluehost’s live demo. Bluehost has a Getting Started wizard and library full of video tutorials to help you along the way. There is also a knowledge base filled with FAQs. If you get stuck, they provide 24/7 customer support by phone, customer ticket, and live chat. They even offer postal mail support, though you probably will not need that.

Best of all, Bluehost is very competitively priced at just under $5.00US per month. They also have an affiliate and reseller program to help offset your hosting costs or simply generate a little extra income. They do not offer much in the way of marketing and promotion but they do give new users $100 in Google AdWords credits. Though it sounds like a lot, you are certain to blow through that quickly. This means that you will have to work to get the word out and promote your site.

Overall, Bluehost stands up quite well when compared to other hosting companies. While it may not be the cheapest, it offers more than enough features for almost any type of website and its technology and customer support are top-notch. Definitely a hosting company to look into if you are planning on developing an e-commerce site.