If you cannot afford managed WordPress hosting like WP Engine or Flywheel (both of which we highly recommend), a lower cost option is Bluehost. They offer WordPress specific hosting as well but understand it is not at the same level and is considered budget hosting. Overall, we’ve been happy with the performance and customer service.

The steps:

Step 1. Get Started on Bluehost

The first step is to sign up for website hosting with Bluehost. You can think of website hosting as paying rent. Just like you need to pay for a place to store your things, so does your website.

I’m ready to sign up!

Step 2. Domain Name

Once you click the ‘get started’ button you will have to either choose a new domain name or transfer an existing domain.

New Domain
If you need a domain, you can add it here for free.

Transfer Domain
If you already have a domain name, simply enter it in the transfer domain section. It’s up to you later if you want to fully transfer the domain registration to Bluehost (for free). Although you are using the transfer domain option, the domain is not technically transferred to using Bluehost as the registrar unless you choose to do so later. Transferring the domain is free but is not required or necessary. You may elect to keep your domain with the current domain registrar.

Step 3. Choose you Payment Package

The next step will be paying for your hosting and choosing any additional features you want. Bluehost offers a few different package plans. The best deal is to sign up for 36 months for $4.95/month. However, if you are wary of commitment you can always sign up for one year for only $6.95/month.

Bluehost also offers many features such as ‘SiteLock Domain Security’, ‘Search Engine Jumpstart’ and ‘Domain Whois Privacy’ for an additional fee. These features have their value but not all are necessary for everyone. If privacy is very important for you, ‘Domain Whois Privacy’ might be worth the investment because it will prevent your name and other information from being associated with ownership of your website. You can always decide for yourself after reading the ‘more information’ for each feature. We DO recommend you sign up for the ‘Site Backup Pro’ because it offers another layer of backups for a very affordable price. Note: these backups should not take the place of backups that are conducted in any type of WordPress Maintenance Plan with us since the Bluehost backups will only be able to be restored by Bluehost. 

Do you need to move (migrate) your website to Bluehost?

After you enter in your payment details and press submit you will be taken to a page that gives you one last chance to sign up for upgrades.

If you are needing to move (migrate) your website(s) from a previous hosting provider, the $99 migration option is well worth it. You can migrate 5 websites and 20 email addresses for $99! Migration can get complicated so I think this is a great service.

Step 4. Create a Strong Password

The final step when it comes to signing up for Bluehost is to choose a password.

It’s always smart to have safe passwords for online accounts. Bluehost provides a generator that can be used to create one of those hard to crack (and hard to remember) passwords. Choose whatever method your prefer but make sure to record your password somewhere secure.

Congratulations!

You are now ready to log into your Bluehost account or share the details safely with your favorite web designer.