BlueHost Web Hosting Package

The non-www and www pages used to be a critical treat to SEO works as Google sees it as two different pages and assign two different page rank to the same page.

Generally, the problem has now been solved within Google (by sorting out the issue in their algorithm and introducing Google Webmaster Tools).

Nevertheless, it is more professional to have a standardized website URL thus redirecting non-www pages to www is still necessary.

Redirect with .htaccess files at Bluehost

One good thing about hosting with Bluehost is that Bluehost users are allowed to access (create/modify/delete) the .htaccess files at root. Hence, redirecting all non-www web pages to www counterpart is easy.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Create or locate your .htaccess file

A .htaccess file is an Apache directory-level configuration file which can be used to password protect or redirect files. To redirect your non-www pages, you will first need to create or locate the .htaccess file. If it doesn’t exist, create it on your Bluehost root (yes, this means public_html in Bluehost); if it exist, open it with wordpad or any other text editing software.

2. Add the following lines to your .htaccess file

Replacing ‘example.com’ with your website domain, copy and paste the lines below to your .htaccess file. Save and replace the original file at your root folder and you’re now done.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.example\.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*) http://www.example.com/$1 [L,R=301]

To test, simply type in the non-www URL of your website to your Internet browser and see your web URL being redirect to the www.

As mentioned in my previous post, Bluehost offers shared SSL certs in all hosting plans. Your secured pages, using shared SSL certificate, would appear something like this: https://secure.bluehost.com/~yourunixusername.

However if you wish to have a private SSL cert then you’ll need to pay extra for the private SSL purchase.

What are needed for a private SSL at Bluehost?

To run your website on a private SSL, your website will need a dedicated IP address and a private SSL certificate. BlueHost recommends and sells exclusively Rapid SSL Cert.’s. Rapid SSL Certificates use 128 bit encryption to secure and protect your websites data from hackers, where it’s best used for accepting credit card payments online.

From what I see, another good thing about Rapid SSL is that the certification offers $10,000 of warranty in cash. The cert is as well 99% browser recognition rate where major Internet browser like IE 5.01+, AOL 5+, Netscape 4.7+, Opera 7+, Safari, Mozilla 1+, and Firefox 1+ are well supported.

The price

Rapid SSL certificate cost $45 annually; while the dedicated IP address will cost you extra $30 per year.

How to purchase a SSL cert at Bluehost?

First, you’ll need to have a hosting account with Bluehost. (Purchase Bluehost, click here for special promo link)

Then, you’ll need to contact Bluehost support for the purchase/installation of dedicated IP and private SSL certificates. To expedite your order please be sure to have or include the cPanel password and last four digits of the credit card number on file as they are required for validation.

What’s Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and secure server?

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security system that build encrypted communication between a web server and a web client (web browser). The secured communication is done by having both web server and client authentication and the negotiation of an encryption algo and cryptographic keys.

What can a secure server do for your website?

Generally, a secure server allows you to conduct e-commerce activities such like payment transactions in a safer enviroment. The SSL provides a safer passage of information where data passing thru is harder to be decoded by third party.

From user point of view, it feels much safe to shop at a website with SSL (users see a padlock at the bottom of web browser as well as seeing the URL starting with https://) and thus might most probably, increase your website conversion rate.

Does Bluehost offers SSL certification?

Quick answer: Yes, Bluehost does offer Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate.

In fact, the shared SSL certificate is included in Bluehostshared hosting account standard features. Your secured pages would appear something like this: https://secure.bluehost.com/~yourunixusername.

How about private SSL?

Yes, you can obtain a private SSL at Bluehost. However the private SSL features will require your website to be hosted on a dedicated IP, which will cost an extra $30 annually. On top of that a private SSL certificate will cost another $45 annually.

To get a private SSL certificate, here’s what you need to do*:

1) Create an ‘admin@yourdomain.com’ email address through the Email Manager in your control panel.

2) In the SSL Manager in your control panel, select ‘Private Keys (KEY)’. Under ‘Generate a New Key’, select your main domain from the dropdown box and click the ‘Generate’ button.

3) Go back to the SSL Manager main screen, and select ‘Certificate Signing Requests (CSR)’. Under ‘Generate a New Certificate Signing Request’, your www.maindomain.com should be in the Host box. Under country, enter your 2 letter country code (US, GB, FI, etc). The rest are self explanatory, down to the Passphrase box. Enter any password between 5-15 characters, using only numbers, and upper and lowercase letters.

Once these steps are complete, please send us a ticket including either the password or the last four digits of the credit card on file, and our Level 2 staff will take care of it within 24-48 hours. Depending on security protocols, you may be asked to monitor the admin@maindomain.com email address you created for a period of time, during the course of installation.

* Reference: Bluehost Helpdesk

Wonder how is Bluehost server performing?

Now there’s a better way than reading stranger’s blog about Bluehost’s servers – http://serverstatus.bluehost.com!

Bluehost Official Server Check

Bluehost currently run a server monitoring system that is designed to keep their customers informed of server outages. By simply typing in your domain name, you can check the web server (that you are hosting on) status and get updates about any planned or unplanned server maintenance work.

That’s a pretty cool feature that other hosting companies do not provide. Check out image below for the quick screen captured.

By the way, in case you’re not a Bluehost customer yet, you can learn more about Bluehost server performance on my previous post: Bluehost Server Status.

Are you planning to own more than one website? Here’s a cost efficient way to host multiple website: host multiple domains in one single hosting account.

Think the advice sounds too simple? Now I won’t be too sure for that! It’s true that most hosting companies nowadays enable webmasters to host multiple domain on one single hosting account; but still there’re quite some web hosts that don’t offer the same. Gate.com, for example, allows only one single domain in their standard hosting package.

Which web host offer good multiple domain hosting services?

For multiple domain hosting, Bluehost, Lunarpages, and Hostgator are some of the top well known names.

Take Bluehost for example, Bluehost users get to host unlimited addon domain in one single hosting account. The first registered domain with Bluehost is known as the main domain; and the following will be added as addon domain.

One thing to be clear is that an ‘addon domain’ is different from a ‘subdomain’. An ‘addon domain’ is a new domain that’s added on top of your main domain; on the other hand, a subdomain is a domain that is part of a larger domain. “mail.example.com” and “calendar.example.com”, for example, are subdomains of the “example.com”.

So how do you add an addon domain at Bluehost?

First, make sure your domain DNS is setup properly (example: NS1.BLUEHOST.COM; NS2.BLUEHOST.com). Then, login to Bluehost account control panel, go ‘Domain’ > ‘Addon Domains’ > ‘Domain Manager’.

Key in your domain name along with the desired root folder location. Note that you are given a choice of ‘Parked Domain’ and ‘Addon Domains’ in the setup page. A ‘Parked Domain’ simply means a redirect domain for another – users who visit a parked domain will be transferred to other (intended) domain; in our case, select the option ‘Addon Domains’.

Simply click ‘Add Domain’ once you are ready and you are now done. Pretty simple.

One thing I like so much about Bluehost is their commitment to the customers. The recent installation of SimpleScripts is another prove of Bluehost’s determination to stay top in the web hosting industry.

Hey, what’s SimpleScripts?

SimpleScripts is pretty similar with the in-famous Fantastico; expect that it works faster and covers more web scripts in their library. It is a one-click installer of web applications for Blogs, Photo Albums, Online Stores, Forums, Wikis, and more.

Installation/updating of blog/CMS software like WordPress and Joomla used to be complicated but not with SimpleScripts anymore. With the smart installer function, SimpleSripts will automatically checks to make sure your web host is compatible upon installation; also, web software updates are done within seconds as SimpleScripts will take care of all the dirty work back scene.

List of web applications in SimpleScripts

Here’re the web applications SimpleScripts can help install at Bluehost:

It’s fundamental that website has to be backup regurlarly. Although backup work are kinda redundancy work but it’s crucial to avoid accidental data losses.

Backups at Bluehost

The backups features in Bluehost allow you to download a compressed zip files of either your entire website to your local PC. The ingredient of the zip files include your website home directory, databases, email forwarders configuration, as well as email filters configuration.

Sounds pretty easy huh? Yeah sure it is. However, note that the backup process mentioned here are not done automatically. You’ll need to work it out manually and I’m going to show you how here.

Whenever you’re logged into your Bluehost cPanel, scroll down and search for the icon named Backups. Click in and it’ll bring you to the backup main page.

At the backup main page, you’ll be given two main options: To perform a full backup of your website; or to perform a partial backup. A Full Backup function will allow you to create an archive of all the files and configurations on your website; while the Partial Backup function allows you to download individual directory, MySQL database, email forwarders, or email filter settings.

PrintScreen of the full backup page:

For partial backup, all you need to do is click on the file name you wish to backup; while for full backup, you’ll need to generate the full backup files (might take a few minutes) and save it to your local PC.

Bluehost Backup Wizards

Another option for backing up websites at Bluehost is to do it with the Bluehost Backup Wizards. The wizard system is built to ease your backup work and everything can be done by just one click.

At Bluehost, using the backups feature allows you to download (to your computer) a zipped copy of either you entire site (your home directory, databases, email forwarders configuration, email filters configuration) or one of the previously mentioned parts of your site. These are not automatically scheduled backups. Automatically scheduled backups need to be enabled by the server owner / administrator.

Backup at Bluehost: Getting started

Login to your Bluehost hosting account. Scroll down and look for the ‘Backups’ icon under category ‘file’.

If you think you need complicated coding work and tedious maintenance procedure to host a website then you’re wrong. As the open-source software development flourished, various version of Content Management System (CMS ) are available free for download and usage.

What’s a CMS?

There are lots of different definition for the CMS however in our case, a CMS simple means a computer application used to create, edit, manage, and publish web content in a consistently organized fashion. Generally CMS are very user friendly thus people who’re not familiar with web programming to publish and maintaining web content easily.

What are the CMS you can get at Bluehost?

At Bluehost, there are a long list of free CMS. These CMS are ready to be installed within a few clicks with the help of Fantastico and Simple Scripts.

For instant, here’s the list you’ll get from Fantastico in Bluehost.

• Drupal
• Geeklog
• Joomla
• Mambo Open Source
• PHP-Nuke
• phpWebSite
• phpWCMS
• Post-Nuke
• Siteframe
• WordPress
• Xoops

Bluehost hosting also support other cms content management, for example moodle or pligg social bookmark script, and more.

My personal preferences on Content Management System (CMS)?

I used to work long hours on Dreamweaver and Zend to create my websites before I tried WordPress. Not that I didn’t know about all the CMS available free online nor they are not good; but I am being really picky with the CMS features.

Well then again, WordPress came into the picture and everything’s just changed.

People who knew me well should know that I’m a big fans of WordPress. WordPress is often known as a blog scripts rather than a CMS. However this is a very wrong perception because WordPress nowadays had revolved into something more than just a blog scripts. In fact, the reason I picked WordPress as my favourites is because that the folks in WP had made the scripts more powerful ever than any CMS in the market. WordPress websites are extremely user-friendly, easy to SEO, convenient to be maintained, stable, and there are tons of free addons (plugin).

Websites hosted at Bluehost are offered with two versions of MySQL database management services – MySQL 4 Servers and MySQL 5 Servers.

As a Bluehost customers, you’re offered with the choice between these two MySQL versions, but never both. For ReviewBluehost.com for example, the MySQL version is MySQL 5.0.45 Version.

To check the MySQL version of your account, all you need to do is login into your hosting control panel page, scroll down and look for the “MySQL version” on the right column.

Refer figure for the MySQL version at my hosting account.

What’s MySQL?

MySQL is an extremely popular “relational database management system (RDBMS)” which has more than 11 million installations according to the officials.

In fact, MySQL has become the #1 database choice for delivering web applications, where the program powers high profile web sites such as Yahoo!, Google, Flickr, YouTube, Wikipedia and millions of websites running on Apache servers.

MySQL is such popular mainly because of the program infrastructure implementation are highly leveraging the popular open source LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Perl/Python).

The program runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. MySQL is owned and sponsored by a single for-profit firm, the Swedish company MySQL AB, now a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, which holds the copyright to most of the codebase.

Visit MySQL official website to learn more.