Bluehost Vs. HostGator – Which Hosting Option Is Right For You?

Choosing the right web hosting company is important for Internet marketers.  You want an affordable company that will meet all of your needs. 

With that in mind, I’m going to talk about two of my favorite hosting companies, which are Bluehost and HostGator.  Then, you can choose one for your website or blog.

Bluehost

Bluehost has two plans that people can use.  The first plan is a professional web hosting plan.  It costs $6.95 a month and includes:

• Unlimited domain hosting
• Unlimited hosting space
• Unlimited file transfers
• Unlimited email accounts
• Free domain
• Free site builder (templates included)

This company has a 99.9% network uptime guarantee and customers receive a $75 Google credit when they sign up.

If you want something a little extra, you can sign up for the Pro Package.  The pro package includes everything that the standard package does, but you’ll get some extras.  Extras include:

• Hosting on the Pro server
• Dedicated IP and SSL
• Anti Spam protection
• Domain and WhoIs Privacy

The pro package costs $19.95 a month.  This is a good upgrade, especially for those who are connecting their site with Facebook.  Facebook requires SSL protection for all incoming links, so you’ll have that taken care of if you use the Pro Package.

HostGator

HostGator is another affordable hosting option.  It offers three plans, which are:

• Hatchling plan
• Baby plan
• Business plan

The Hatchling Plan starts at $3.96 a month and includes:

• One domain name
• Unlimited disk space
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Shared SSL certificate
• Site builder
• Instant backups
• Unlimited email accounts

This plan comes with a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and a $100 Google credit.

The Baby Plan, which starts at $6.36 a month, includes everything the Hatchling plan does, as well as:

• Unlimited domains
• Unlimited add on and parked domains
• Dedicated IP for an extra $2 a month

The Business Plan includes everything the first two plans do.  However, this plan, which starts at $10.36 a month, also includes:

• A free toll free number you can use for your business
• Anonymous FTP
• Private SSL
• Dedicated IP

Which One Is Right For You?

Bluehost and HostGator both offer great plans for Internet marketers.  I would highly recommend either of these hosting companies. 

However, it’s important to note that HostGator is currently offering a larger Google credit.  Plus, the 800 number offered by HostGator can really come in handy.  You can use that instead of your own phone number on your website.  That will be more professional, and it will allow you to keep you phone number private.  Besides these two things, the plans are very similar, so you can pick one the one you prefer.

Both Bluehost and HostGator come with a user-friendly and newbie-friendly interface – cPanel (control panel) where you can do many things, one of which is to install a free WordPress blog.  These companies make it a very smooth and simple process.

No matter which option you choose, it’s important that you set up a hosting plan.  Once you do, set up your professional email addresses so you can communicate with your potential customers in a professional way. 

I use info@carolamato.com for my blog here as it is reflecting the site I am communicating about.  I chose NOT to use Gmail or Hotmail etc. for my business as an email address needs to be a professional representation of you and your business.