Whether you’re looking to host a photography portfolio site, a website to host your video demo reel, an online presence for your voiceover business, a home page for your band, or any other creative endeavor online, I highly recommend Bluehost.
Why do I recommend Bluehost?
•The price is right.
You can have your very own little piece of online real estate where you build anything you want for less than $5 per month. The rent is dirt cheap!
•The product is well made.
The interface is as clear as is possible in this confusing web-centric world we live in. There’s an online area called the C-Panel where you can access all the stuff you need for your hosting. Or you can just click the little ‘WordPress’ button (more on that below) and a custom website will be created for you, and all you have to do is customize it to your liking. (Don’t worry, no “coding” is involved, you don’t need to be a web developer to build a website like this anymore.)
•They have great customer support.
I can vouch for this personally, as I once called at two in the morning needing help with my first website after joining them. I was surprised to be talking to a very smart, friendly, helpful human being very soon after starting the phone call. He was very knowledgeable and quickly fixed my problem. I have used their support a couple of times since, and have had similar pleasant experiences both times.
•They are the hosting that I use. (for what that’s worth.)
I use Bluehost for all of my websites. I am also transferring previous web design clients to Bluehost when possible. It has served me very well so far in whatever I have needed. At some point, when the site needs more speed or to accommodate more visitors, I might re-evaluate but I would like to stay with them, since they seem to have good upgrade options.
The basic hosting package, though, is good enough for just about any artist for hosting their site. If you want a WordPress site, they have an easy one-click install and you’re up and running with WordPress. You can then log in and add any theme you want, or add a premium theme such as the really nice ones from Elegant Themes.
•Your own custom domain name is included.
The hosting package comes with a domain name, so you can pick your domain and have it set up as part of the process. There’s a search function where you can find available names, and they will suggest alternate names if the one you typed is taken, or you could just keep searching for the name you want. If your personal name is already taken (like mine was when I started this journey), I just added “artist” on the end of the URL so it looks like this: www.mikeroyartist.com.
•You can add as many domains as you want.
If you want, you can even add subdomains (like www.theartist.gallery.com or www.theartist.whatever.com) and as many domain names as you want. For more top-level domain names, you would just need to pay the registration fee. If you’re a web designer, this is great because you can build websites for as many clients as you want on a single account!
•You get as much space as you need.
With Bluehost you can have unlimited space. I can’t really fathom that, and surely they would cut you off at some point… but I guess not, it’s never been an issue.
Why should you not use a free website?
So why use Bluehost for your primary homebase instead of a freely hosted website with WordPress.com, Blogger.com, or even a more premium offering like Squarespace? Well, there are a number of reasons:
- You may not have the ideal “clean” domain name like “www.theartist.com”. It could have the host’s name in the URL, and that would look something like www.thehost.theartist.com.
- You may be restricted or prevented from selling your work on their platform.
- There may be an add-on cost over a certain number of images, videos, or pages.
- You may outgrow the site and have to migrate your whole site you’ve built, which could use a custom theme that you may not be able to duplicate.
- The company could shut your site down for any number of reasons that they may dream up, or they could just go out of business.
On that last point…sure, Bluehost could go out of business, too, but it’s less likely for a domain host to go down. On the other hand, does anybody remember Geocities? or Angelfire? They were easy free “hosted” web solutions that went under or were absorbed, along with others, years ago. My very first site in 1995 was on Geocities…I sure wish I could get that back…)
I should also note that I’m not against having a hosted solution in addition to your self-hosted one, in fact it’s easier for people to find you online if you can keep up with more than one site. I just don’t recommend it starting out, or without already having a self-hosted site with someone like Bluehost.
“Okay, I’m convinced. How do I get started?”
You can click on this banner to get to Bluehost:
Not quite ready to make your own website?
If you want to know a bit more about the
process first, check out the great resources below:
Would you like to see firsthand how quick and easy it is to set up a website with Bluehost? In the below video I show you the exact step-by-step process to:
- Sign up with Bluehost
- Choose a custom domain name
- Pick the correct hosting package
- Create a login and password
- Install WordPress (the famous “one button install”)
…and the best part? It all takes less than seven minutes! When you see these exact step-by-step instructions, it will demystify the whole “web sites are hard to set up” thing… you’ll be convinced that anybody can set up their own self hosted website!
Don’t leave empty-handed: here’s a slideshow showing you the exact steps to build your Online Portfolio Website in just under 7 Minutes with Bluehost.
If you would like a pdf transcript of this Slideshare deck instead, just click here to download one:
(PDF Document): Build A Portfolio Website in Just 7 Minutes with Bluehost
Disclaimer: Artist Myth is a Bluehost affiliate, and is compensated if you follow any of the above links and end up signing up for their services. I personally vouch for their product and service. If it any point I (or my readers) feel that their products or services are not living up to the standards I set for my readers and students, I will cease this relationship with them. Thank you! -Mike