Bluehost top-notch website-hosting provider recommended by WordPress ®. Millions of bloggers use it since WordPress considers it the number one host. The hosting comes with a free domain name for the first year, free SSL Certificate, 1-Click WordPress install, and 24/7 support. While buying the Bluehost packages such as the Basic, Plus, or Choice plus, most customers find themselves undecided on which Bluehost package extras to include for the smooth hosting and running of their website.
Although they increase your bills’ price, they add essential extra features to your plan, which is useful for customizing your hosting to match your needs. In this article, we look at all the Bluehost packages extras offered and their importance to your website.
Bluehost
Package Extras: Informational guide
If you’ve been weighing the pros and cons of signing up with Bluehost and have yet to pull the trigger, it’s time to make your decision. These extras might seem extraneous, but they offer a lot of value at an exceptional price. So read on to learn more about what these extras are, why they matter, and whether they’re worth the investment. What are the Bluehost Package Extras?
First, some definitions. If you’re a newbie to the world of web hosting, you may be wondering what these “extras” are that I keep referring to. Here’s what they are and why you should care. But First Setup your Bluehost account in order to buy extra packages from the Hosting Provider.
How to Setup Bluehost Account
Because you can buy a hosting account from Bluehost, you should know what to do in order to create an account. First, go through the steps on this page and make sure that you read them all. Then, follow the instructions for using your current email address and password to create your Hosting Account. If you still get a login error when trying to access your account on Bluehost’s website, then contact their live chat team for assistance.
Steps:
- Visit http://bluehost.com, and then click the Sign Up Now button.
- Add your email address, password, and other personal details in the fields provided by Bluehost’s website.
- The next step is to choose a payment method for Bluehost’s services or you can also sign up for free if you want to just test out the features offered by their company. To pay with MasterCard, Visa, or American Express, click on the appropriate option after choosing Free or Paid hosting options right above it. The process takes you to an external page where you will be required to fill in all of your personal data with that of your bank account information. Complete the process and then proceed to the payment options.
- After choosing your preferred payment option, you will be asked to create a password. You will also get an email from Bluehost with the username and password you chose in this step. Make sure that you use the username and password to access your account on Bluehost’s website
Pricing for the extras package Bluehost
Bluehost Pricing for Package extras are as follows
Domain Privacy + Protection
Domain Privacy and Protection is the first optional paid package-extra offered in the Bluehost packages.
When registering for website hosting on Bluehost, your personal information is added to the Public Database known as WHOIS Database.
It stores all your details, such as Contact Name, Telephone number, EmailAddress, User Address, and Business Name.
You can have Bluehost multiple domains with the various plans offered.
When you check the Domain Privacy + Protection extra, you get to hide your personal information that will come up when someone looks up your domain name.
By adding this feature to any of the Bluehost packages, your account will display the view hosts company name, in this case,
Bluehost instead of your details. This will result in total privacy and Protection of your Bluehost multiple domains for only $0.99 per month.
Another positive side of adding the Domain Privacy and Protection is that it helps to limit most junk and spam emails.
If you are considering whether to buy this extra feature of the Bluehost packages, my advice is it will be vital if you want your identity hidden.
However, if your budget is slightly limited for this offer, you can proceed without checking, as it does not affect the smooth running of your account and upgrades later on when necessary.
The pros of Bluehost package Extras
CodeGuard Basic
Bluehost offers the CodeGuard basic as an extra at the Bluehost pricing cost of $2.99 per month.
It’s a backup software that is considered a time machine for your website since it works behind the scenes to save the daily backups in a separate version.
It provides an automatic website/database backup solution, monitors your site or database regularly, and detects and notifies any changes, backing up the site’s data changes.
The importance of the CodeGuard basic is that in case of any disaster, it will be easy to turn back the clock without losing any crucial data.
Thus, CodeGuard basic allows for a one-click restoration of your site to a previous version. Without the feature, your data will be unsecure, and you may lose a lot of many days’ work forever.
By using CodeGuard Basic, you can download a compressed file of your website resources. CodeGuard basic is free in the Choice Plus plan and above.
However, if your plan does not include this feature, you can purchase it if you still want the sense of security on your website.
A later upgrade is also available from the Bluehost control panel.
Advantages of CodeGuard Basic
SiteLock Security
The SiteLock Security Bluehost extra is a third-party extra feature of the Bluehost that verifies your personal information such as Email ID, Telephone Number, and Address.
SiteLock Security Bluehost add-on feature is important for keeping hackers out when you are selling or offering any service on your website.
It helps to reduce the risk of attacks and provides additional security to your website.
Bluehost sitelock helps to safeguard your site by
scanning for signs of threats, ensuring your site is not blacklisted, verifying your site has no database vulnerabilities, etc.
When not selling anything on your website, the Bluehost sitelock extra feature is something you may not need.
You, therefore, can leave the checkbox unchecked. Bluehost sitelock pricing is $2.99 per month (billed annually at $23.88/yr).
Advantages of SiteLock Security
Bluehost SEO Tools
The Bluehost SEO Tools (Search Engine Optimization Tools) are also an extra feature in Bluehost.
Bluehost SEO Tools can assist you in reaching out to your potential customers through search engines. This is an important milestone for most bloggers.
Without high traffic from search engines to your website, your site may not offer the intended benefits.
SEO Tools offers systematic tasks and insights crucial in getting your website listed in search engines.
It analyses your site and creates an online Marketing Report system in a simple, understandable format. It also comes with an SEO Tools score indicator at its dashboard.
This is important as your website will rank higher than others, resulting in top search engine traffic. Other pros of having this add-on include:
It automatically submits your website to search engines such as Yahoo, Bing, and Google.
It offers you a detailed plan of action that gives you a timely personalized marketing analysis and report of your website.
You get to use Bluehost’s Keyword Discovery SEO Tool to select the right keywords to help your site rank high in search engines.
The pricing of the SEO Tools is at $1.99 per month (Billed annually at 23.88/yr). Although it increases the costs of hosting your website in Bluehost, the effects are worth considering for your website’s overall success.
Benefits of Bluehost SEO Tools
Office 365 Mailbox
The Bluehost packages include a 30-day free trial of Office 365. After that, you can decide among three plans for Office 365, which can be paid monthly or annually. These are:
| Plan Name | Monthly | Yearly |
|---|---|---|
| Email essentials | $4.99/month ($59.88/yr) | $2.99/month ($35.88/year) |
| Business Plus | $9.99/month ($119.88/year) | $5.99/month ($71.88/year) |
| Business Pro | $14.99/month ($179.99/year) | $9.99/month ($119.88/year) |
This feature is crucial as it offers Email Essentials in the form of a branded email application that is important in building customer trust and professionalism and powered by Microsoft, making it secure, reliable, and accessible online. It also has 24/7 technical support.
Benefits of Office 365 Mailbox
The Bluehost Packages extras are important features for your website as they provide the advantages mentioned above. However, depending on your budget and your site preferences.
What do I think about Bluehost Package Extras?
My recommendation for using Bluehost Package Extras is to make sure you are not paying for any extras that you don’t need.
Since Bluehost is constantly adding new services, some of which cost extra, it pays to be diligent in reviewing your monthly invoice. For example, many clients have found that they can switch to Google Adwords and save more than $300/month. Switching over to AdWords was easy because all I had to do was call my local office and ask them if they offer the same service at a better price point.
It’s worth taking the time period or when there are major changes in service offers such as new upgrades or holidays promotions so that you’re not paying for extras without realizing it.
You can uncheck them and upgrade them later on when necessary by visiting the view host control panel.
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