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You'll need a reliable web hosting platform before you launch your blog. Web hosting essentially gives the website a home on the internet. Despite the abundance of web hosting choices, HostGator has remained a top choice for nearly two decades. This well-known hosting service provides lightning-fast speeds, 100% uptime, top-tier features, and round-the-clock customer service. This HostGator analysis delves into the company's benefits and drawbacks so you can determine if it's right for you.
- HostGator review: What is HostGator?
- Pros of HostGator
- Cons of HostGator
- Performance and site speed
- Customer support
- Key features
- Plans and pricing
- How to sign up for HostGator
- Who is HostGator best for?
- Who is HostGator not right for?
- Bottom line: Is HostGator good or not?
HostGator review: What is HostGator?
HostGator is a Houston, Texas-based web hosting company. Brent Oxley built it in a dorm room at Florida Atlantic University in 2002. The business now hosts over eight million domains around the world.
The success of HostGator drew the attention of EIG (Endurance International Group), which bought the company for $225 million in 2012. Other well-known websites owned by EIG include Bluehost, Constant Contact, and iPage.
Pros of HostGator
Because of its comprehensive list of features, HostGator has been a popular choice among bloggers. Some of the most common are mentioned below.
Fast loading speeds
One of the most important aspects of any blog, aside from great material, is pace. Visitors would not want to access your content if it takes too long to load.
According to reports, even a one-second delay in page loading will result in 11% fewer page views! One of the reasons why faster websites seem to have higher SEO rankings is because of this.
Compatible with WordPress
WordPress, the world's most popular blogging site, is compatible with HostGator. It's an excellent option for WordPress users for a variety of reasons, including:
- WordPress installation in a single click
- WordPress migration is completely free.
- MOJO Marketplace access to WordPress themes Auto-backups and one-click site restore options
- SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate for free
With HostGator, you can easily migrate an existing WordPress-powered site or start from scratch.
Top-notch customer service
HostGator provides phone and live chat support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The organization provides ticket-based email support for more complicated issues.
HostGator also has an extensive knowledge base with posts and video tutorials on their help portal.
Free weekly backups
Free automated backups are provided by HostGator once a week on a random day. Each backup replaces the one before it. This is an often overlooked feature that will give you peace of mind if your website goes down or is hacked.
If you need more regular automated backups, the company also provides additional paid backup services.
User-intuitive dashboard
The user-friendly dashboard of HostGator makes it easy for beginners to set up a website or blog. With the online dashboard's easy control panel choices, users can take complete control of their site. You can conveniently access email accounts, webmail, databases, and a file manager from your control panel.
Free Weebly Website Builder
If website design is as alien to you like Latin, HostGator's free access to Weebly's Website Builder might be of interest. All of its shared hosting plans include this option. Thanks to an excellent drag-and-drop editor, even those who aren't very tech-savvy can easily design a professional-looking site with the Weebly Builder.
However, if you want to build a profitable site, I suggest sticking with WordPress.
SSD persistent storage
Returning to the ever-important aspect of site pace, users of HostGator's shared hosting plans profit from their sites being hosted on a Solid-State Drive (SSD.) An SSD, unlike a traditional hard drive, has no moving parts, making it more reliable. When compared to other disk drive options, SSDs have faster load times because less data is stored on the drive.
Safe and secure
Hacking and cyberattacks, unfortunately, are a real challenge. Thankfully, HostGator has a custom firewall in place to keep hackers out of your site. Additionally, all shared hosting plans provide an SSL certificate and SSH access to ensure that your carefully designed content remains secure.
Cons of HostGator
Now let's look at some of the drawbacks of using HostGator as your blog host.
Dated control panel design
While user-friendly, HostGator's control panel isn't as user-friendly as some other hosts' control panels. Some users have expressed dissatisfaction with the interface, which they believe is outdated.
More expensive plans & renewals than competitors
HostGator, like many other hosting companies, provides a steep discount when you first buy items, but the price increases when you renew your contract. For new customers, their most competitive hosting plan starts at just $2.75 per month, but it leaps to $10.95 per month when you renew for a year.
HostGator performance and site speed
HostGator is a recognized leader in hosting success, with a 99.9% uptime guarantee. HostGator is so confident in its uptime guarantee that if a server fails, you'll get a refund equivalent to one month's worth of your current package's cost.
Your site will run at full speed thanks to HostGator's SSD-enabled storage. The company's main data centers are in Provo, Utah, and Houston, Texas, with a total of 23 sites around the world. This ensures that your site loads quickly regardless of where you or your guests are located.
You won't have to worry about your site going down if you choose a HostGator package. If there is an unusual situation, you should reach out to HostGator's 24/7 customer service team for help.
HostGator customer support
HostGator is known for having one of the best customer service support teams in the industry, and they provide phone and live chat support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
More complicated problems can also be resolved by ticket-based email support. You can also access a knowledge base of over 680 articles and over 500 video tutorials via your account.
HostGators key features
Let's take a closer look at some of HostGator's most important features.Uptime guarantee
The uptime guarantee of HostGator's is one of the best on the market. If you value consistency, choosing HostGator as your hosting provider will give you peace of mind that your site will be up and running at all times, meaning that your site visitors or customers will still be able to access your blog or goods.
Security
HostGator uses multiple levels of site security as common practice, in addition to offering free SSL certificates for all hosting plans. It also provides updated security plans for sites that need additional security.
The company's servers are housed in highly secure data centers with limited access. HostGator has gone above and beyond to create a custom firewall to protect its customers from hacking and malicious malware.
SiteLock (software that automatically scans your files and detects security issues) and more advanced SSL certificate solutions are available for a fee to those who require enhanced security.
Freebies galore
HostGator, like other hosting companies, includes a free SSL certificate and a one-year domain name with the purchase of any hosting service. The business, on the other hand, includes a slew of other useful resources and items that some other hosts charge for.
Here's a list of what's included for free in every hosting plan:
- Bandwidth with no limits
- Storage is limitless.
- A secure socket layer (SSL) certificate
- Obtain a free domain name (1 year)
- Email accounts with no limits
- Accounts for file transfer protocol (FTP) with no limits (all you to transfer files from a
- computer to a network)
- The ability to use a drag-and-drop website builder
- Subdomains are unrestricted.
- Constant Contact offers free email marketing.
👉 Also, you can read : HostGator Review: Snappy Marketing – How’s The Hosting?
HostGator plans and pricing
You will have three options when signing up for a HostGator shared hosting plan:
- Hatchling Package: Get a free 1-year domain, 1-click WordPress installs, and free WordPress/cPanel website transfers with this budget-friendly plan. Unmetered bandwidth and disk space are included in this shared hosting package, as well as a free SSL certificate and free email. You can also use a free website builder and get a $150 Google ad spend match credit and a $100 Bing Ads credit to promote your site. The Hatchling plan only allows you to host one website. This package is available for an introductory price of $2.75 a month, with a monthly renewal rate of $10.95. A 45-day money-back guarantee is included in all hosting plans.
- Baby: HostGator's Baby shared hosting plan has all of the same great features as their Hatchling hosting plan, but it allows you to have an infinite number of websites instead of only one. The Baby package is $3.50 per month for the first three months and $11.95 per month after that.
- Business Plan: The most expensive of the shared hosting plans, this bundle contains all of the features of the Baby plan plus a free dedicated IP address and a free positive SSL update backed by a $10,000 warranty. The Business shared hosting plan from HostGator starts at $5.25 per month and renews for $16.95 per month.
How to Sign Up for HostGator
Here's how to quickly sign up for HostGator's shared hosting plans:
Step 1: Select your service and plan
Hover your mouse over the first menu option, HOSTING, on Hostgator.com. Select SHARED HOSTING from the drop-down menu. Choose your favorite hosting package from the following options: Whether it's a hatchling, a baby, or a company, there's a name
It's worth noting that the Hatchling package is the most cost-effective choice for new bloggers who just want to start one website.
To proceed to the next level, click BUY NOW.
Step 2: Choose a domain
You must either register a new domain or have an existing one in this section. Click the “Register a New Domain” tab at the top of the page if you're registering a new domain.
Then, in the search window, type your domain name. Then, from the dropbox, choose the domain extension you like (e.g. .com, .net, .org, .info, .us, among other options.)
A list of domains that are available will appear. Choose a domain name and choose whether or not to add or delete privacy using the checkboxes below. Continue to the next stage.
Step 3: Select Hosting Plan & Term
You may re-select your preferred hosting package from dropbox in this section. Pick your desired word from the dropbox section named "Billing Cycle."
NOTE: The longer the word, the more money you'll save in the long run. If you can afford it, go for the longest term available (36 months) to ensure you get the best deal.
Step 4: Create your HostGator Account
You'll register your email address, as well as generate your account password and four-digit security pin, in this section.
NOTE: Save your 4-digit security pin because you'll need it to contact customer service.
Step 5: Enter Billing Information
You'll enter your billing details in this section, which includes your name, address, credit card number or Paypal log in, and tax exemption ID (if applicable.)
Step 6: Add-ons, Promo Codes, & Order Review
You'll find a list of paid enhancements you can add to your hosting plan in this section. An enhanced SSL Certificate, SiteLock Essentials (an additional layer of malware protection), professional email, regular site backups, and an SEO tool are among the add-ons. Proceed after selecting any requested add-ons.
A rundown of your order information, including their revised prices and your grand total, appears below the coupon section. Check to see if all of your desired products are included in this section.
You must confirm that you have read and agreed to the company's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy before checking out.
Select "Checkout Now!" to continue.
Your payment will be processed, and you will receive a confirmation email at the address you given.
To confirm your registration, click the link in the confirmation email. You'll be taken back to HostGator to begin creating your blog.
Who is HostGator best for?
HostGator is ideal for fresh and seasoned bloggers who have a small to moderate amount of traffic (e.g., fewer than 100,000 visitors per day). More importantly, because of its simple user-friendly interface, it's an excellent option for those with no prior experience creating websites. HostGator offers detailed guides to help users set up their websites, as well as 24/7 customer service.HostGator also offers faster site loading times for a better user experience. The web hosting platform will load websites in under a second on average, making it unlikely that a visitor would abandon your blog due to slow loading times.
HostGator is a good choice for bloggers and online entrepreneurs because of these features and the low introductory rates for shared hosting plans.
Who is HostGator not right for?
If your site is already up and running and receiving a lot of traffic (e.g., more than 100,000 visitors per day), HostGator's shared hosting plans may not be the best choice.
This is due to the fact that shared hosting ensures that data for several websites is stored on the same server. If you're used to seeing a lot of traffic on your blog, this will slow it down.
If your site receives more than 100,000 daily visitors, you can have a dedicated server or a virtual private server (VPS) (both of which HostGator offers.)
Bottom line: Is HostGator good or not?
New bloggers who want to create an online presence using an easy-to-use platform should check out HostGator. HostGator ensures that your website visitors have the best possible experience by providing consistent site speeds and top-notch results.
On the other hand, if you already have a well-established website with a lot of traffic (or expect a lot of traffic), their shared hosting plans are probably not for you. However, if you're a first-time blogger, HostGator is a great place to start a blog that you can easily scale as your business expands.
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