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A good place to begin exploring the BlueHost shared web hosting (www.bluehost.com) products is in Matt Heaton’s blog. Mr Eaton is the BlueHost CEO and his manner is genial, friendly and warm. This does not entirely hide the steely focus he seems to have on his business, Alaskan fishing trips notwithstanding. The focus is on practical customer service solutions, and he talks of the growth they are experiencing as almost a surprise. When looking at awards, where 1 and 1 got the best domain hosting, BlueHost got the customer service award. It is clear that the resolve Mr Eaton expresses to offer the best customer support filters down through his company and stands out as the BlueHost differentiator.
The BlueHost shared web hosting does the basics, but oddly enough hasn’t followed the multiple hosting package route. They offer only one package, the Professional, with some of the following features:
* 300 GB hosted disk space
* 3000 GB of bandwidth
* 6 Domains can be hosted from 1 account
* 2,500 POP/Imap email accounts
* SSH – secure access to the site
* SSL – the ability to serve secure web pages
* Statistics and associated management tools
* Support for all the major scripting languages
* MySQL and PostGreSQL databases
* 2000/2002/2003 Front Page Extensions
* Free domain forever
* Free Site Builder
* 24/7 Superb/Responsive Sales/Support and a major search engine special offer
BlueHost’s offering of a free domain forever is an interesting little feature in the jaded world of shared web hosting marketing speak. It offers a convenience for the domain buyer who doesn’t have to worry about annual renewals.
The service offering is really feature-rich, and it would seem that the customer is really well looked after. It is possible to set up a completely professional web site with BlueHost and not pay more than the monthly hosting fee, a boon for the smaller business and user. Where BlueHost makes their money is when the site becomes busier and obviously, more successful. Expect to pay for the extra bandwidth as one’s site gets busier.
BlueHost offers a reseller web hosting program with a fixed remuneration and no further work – a straight commission on the sale, unlike HostGator where the reseller still manages their own web hosting “customers.”
The site hosting costs quoted are for only hosting services, so the buyer must pay for their own site design and setup. The hosting service cost is very low, and is extremely hard to beat. Value for money is guaranteed, especially with the service excellence demonstrated throughout 2005 and the very well stocked feature set. The focus is on small and medium businesses, but a private individual with some time and the will to learn will be excellently served.
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