My honest review on Bluehost

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.

It’s important to learn about Bluehost refund policy to avoid unnecessary spending on your hosting cost.

At the time of writing, Bluehost offers one single hosting plan (shared hosting) that can be paid in 5 payment methods - 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, 24 months, and a new 36 months payment terms. All hosting costs are paid for upfront upon signup. For hosting plans less than 12 months, customers will be charged on a non-refundable setup fees.

Refund on your Bluehost subscription

All Bluehost accounts canceled in the first 30 days will be refunded immediately with no question asked.

Example of full refund at Bluehost

Two Year 24 Month Account is $7.95 a Month x 24 months = $190.80 paid at sign up. *If you cancel in the first 30 days Your refund would be $190.80

Once your hosting account had bypassed the 30 days barrier, hosting account cancelled will be refund on monthly prorated basis.

Example of pro-rated refund at Bluehost

Two Year 24 Month Account is $7.95 a Month x 24 months = $190.80 paid at sign up. If you cancel two months into it then you would be reimbursed at the $7.95 a month rate for a period of 22 months. Your prorated refund would be $7.95 x 22 = $174.90.

How about domain registration?

Website owners that registered domain with Bluehost, take cautions!

While canceling your hosting account at Bluehost is super simple, the cancellation might cause long processing time for domain transfers (due to domain registration legals work).

First, when you cancel your Bluehost account prior to your accounts end of term, your free domain registration (for 12/24/36 months hosting plan) will be forfeited and you’ll be charged $10 for domain fees. Money will be deducted from your final refund amount.

In case you are canceling your account within the first 5 days of purchase, the domain name will be released immediately. However, if the cancellation is done after 5 days, the domain name will be with Bluehost until the end of registration period. Of course, you get to retain ownership of your domain but not without Bluehost as the registrant.

There are numbers of consideration points when you’re shopping for a trust worthy web host.

Checking the years of their business, reading real customer’s feedbacks, and studying them via forums or reputable websites help a lot in filtering out some of the scammers. Another useful methods to pick up a good web hosting is to check out multiple contact details on the hosting company - phone number, email, support center, and physical address. A physical address (on Google Map) is especially important as it indicates a larger organization (instead of a work-from-home hosting resellers).

Now, being a larger organization doesn’t mean that they are better. However personally, I feel ’safer’ when I knew that the web host I’m dealing with are willing to reveal themselves publicly. This shows they are serious about their business and I expect better responsibility in handling clients.

So, where does Bluehost located at?

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

Bluehost has recently (on mid Sept) updated their pricing structure.

You used to get the $6.95 rate if you signed up for 24 months of hosting (and paid for it in advance). That rate is now available only if you pay for 36 months. Official pricing info available at here.

Bluehost Pricing

For the ease to review, I had compiled the detail pricing info for Bluehost hosting services. Note that setup fees are totally $0 for hosting plan longer than 12 months; while hosting plan for 6 and 3 months will cost you $30 extra on the setup fees. All price listed below is shared hosting packages and websites are hosted on a shared IP.

36 Month Account $6.95 a month

• 1 FREE Domain Registration good for the life of your hosting package.
• No set up fees [$30 Savings]
• Less than $0.23 (23 cents) a day!
• $250.20 Total due at sign-up; [36 month account x $6.95 mo.]

24 Month Account $7.95 a month

• 1 FREE Domain Registration good for the life of your hosting package.
• No set up fees [$30 Savings]
• Less than $0.27 (27 cents) a day!
• $190.80 Total due at sign-up; [24 month account x $7.95 mo.]

12 Month Account: $8.95 a month

• 1 FREE Domain Registration good for the life of your hosting package.
• No set up fee [$30 Savings]
• Less than $0.30 (30 cents) a day!
• $107.40 Total due at sign-up; [12 month account x $8.95 mo.]

6 Month Account: $99.70

• $9.95 A Month
• [+] $30 One Time Set Up Fee
• [+] $10 Annual Domain Registration Fee

* $99.70 Total due at sign-up [6 mo. x $9.95 mo.($59.70) + $30 Setup + $10 Registration]

3 Month Account: $69.85

• $9.95 A Month
• [+] $30 One Time Set Up Fee
• [+] $10 Annual Domain Registration Fee

* $69.85 Total due at sign-up [3 mo. x $9.95 mo.($29.85) + $30 Setup + $10 Registration]

Optional Features at Bluehost

After your Bluehost hosting account is registered, you’ll be given the choice of other optional features such as registering additional domain names, hosting your website on a dedeicated IP, registering a private SSL certificates, as well as Postini Mail Filtering (new).

Each of these features will be charged separately. Have a quick glance on these pricing below:

• Additional Domain Names = $10.00 each year
• Dedicated IP = $30.00 each year [$2.50 mo.]
• SSL Certificates = $45.00 each year
• Expired Account Reactivations = $30.00
• Postini Mail Filtering = $1.00/mo per e-mail address

Special pricing from ReviewBluehost.com

The good thing about shopping from ReviewBluehost.com is that you get to keep $6.95 as your 24 months hosting cost! The last time I checked, all order links from ReviewBluehost.com are still on the old pricing structures - thus this means you get to save $1/mo for 24 months hosting plan.

Anyhow, I wouldn’t stress too much about this as it’s not much different holding your account for 24 or 36 months with a good host. Further more, Bluehost allows pro-rated payback in their refund policy, this means you can signup with the 36 months hosting plan and simply cancel the services whenever you feels like stopping without losing much money.

Special Pricing: $6.95/mo for 24 months plan! Order Bluehost now.

Well I’m not the only one that’s tracking on Bluehost server performance. Check out this server uptime report tracked by WebHostingGeeks, the server uptime achieved 99.8% for the past 7 days.

Bluehost Server Performance

I think this is a very sound result and would like to recommend Bluehost to anyone out there who’s looking for a shared hosting service.

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.

Bluehost upgraded their hosting plan since May 2008. That’s about 4 months ago and guess what, there’re still many who’re unclear about this latest offer.

Bluehost Upgraded Hosting Plan

Back then, Bluehost’s hosting offer was limited. I still can recall I was hosting on a 300/3,000 GB (storage/bandwidth) hosting capacity with a limited 5 addon domains for a single account.

Not now.

Starting May 2008, BlueHost is offering unlimited web storage space, bandwidth transfer, and unlimited addon domain capacity for all the shared hosting plan.

The offer is quite a shock in the industry as you can now stuffs all your web files into your hosting without worrying it exceeds your package limit.

And the best of all, it’s just $6.95/mo!

What can you do with Bluehost unlimited offer?

Well of course Bluehost is banking on the fact that webmasters will not be silly enough to move all their files to the web server. Rather, I suspect that they are expecting web owners to switch and to host all of their websites under one single hosting account.

In fact, that’s what can you do as well. We were used to host not more than 6 websites under one hosting account in the past; but for now, the limitation vanished.

Stop wasting extra money for the web host. With this “unlimited offer” by Bluehost, you are recommended to take the features for granted and host multiple domain under the same hosting account. Yeah, this means you can aave some green, dude!