I’ve been a long-time Bluehost user (still am for some smaller sites), but about 1 month ago I made the switch to buy HostGator VPS hosting. The reason I had to buy HostGator was I needed much more bandwidth to host my websites. This is a good problem to have.
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I researched many web hosting services with VPS offerings to ensure I’d buy the right website hosting service for my needs. After chatting to several services, I settled on buying HostGator VPS hosting.
I don’t regret my decision to buy HostGator. In fact, I’m delighted so far.
My Web Hosting Story
For my first years being an online publisher, I went with Bluehost. I was very happy with Bluehost until one day my sites were taking a long time to load. Long load-time is the death of website traffic and making sales.
This had never happened to me. I immediately contact Bluehost who told me that my sites were being throttled.
“What’s throttled?” I asked.
In a nutshell, I was using too much server bandwidth. My Bluehost account was on a shared server and so the amount of bandwidth I could use was limited. Okay, I knew enough at that point to understand that on a shared server I don’t get unlimited bandwidth. I wasn’t too upset because after all my website traffic was growing. The goal of any webmaster is to upgrade server power to accommodate more website traffic.
Unfortunately Bluehost doesn’t have an option to serve high-volume websites. I had no choice but to switch hosts for my high-traffic websites.
My options included getting a dedicated server or a VPS (virtual private server). A dedicated server is pretty expensive, so I settled on buying VPS hosting solution.
VPS means you get an allotted amount of bandwidth to run my sites. You can choose how much bandwidth you need. What I liked about HostGator VPS hosting is I can add bandwidth as needed until the day comes I need 1 or several dedicated servers.
HostGator made transferring my websites from Bluehost super easy
Including in the purchase cost of my HostGator VPS hosting was HostGator would transfer the sites I wanted transferred. This was a very nice convenience. I’m not terribly knowledgeable about server technology, and I certainly didn’t want to take hours or days transferring websites. In about 3 or 4 days all my selected sites were transferred from Bluehost to HostGator.
Did buying HostGator VPS hosting increase load-speed of my websites?
The difference was and is astonishing. My sites loaded quite quickly; much quicker than they were on a fully shared server with Bluehost. Take the home page of this site, it’s loaded with links and content, yet loads quickly.
VPS hosting isn’t cheap
I’m paying for increased website performance. With Bluehost I was spending about $8 per month. Now I spend $70 per month. However, given I get the lion’s share of my business from the internet, the increased cost is a pittance and worth every penny. You don’t want to be penny wise and pound stupid. The loss of 1 new client would cost me far more than an entire year’s cost of HostGator VPS hosting.
I don’t mean to discredit Bluehost
Bluehost is a terrific hosting company (you can read my 2-part Bluehost review here). If you’re getting started, I recommend Bluehost. However, if you need more resources and are concerned about load-time of your websites, then VPS hosting is for you. I compare HostGator and Bluehost here.
What else does HostGator offer?
I cover the many HostGator features in my 2-Part HostGator review here.
VPS Hosting is an interim solution between fully-shared hosting and a dedicated server
Most people who start building websites, start with the lowest-cost hosting plans. I did this and it’s smart to do until you start building traffic and generating sales with your website(s). VPS hosting is a perfect interim solution between fully-shared, low-cost hosting and using a dedicated server.
How to choose VPS Hosting?
I based my decision to buy HostGator VPS Hosting on 6 factors:
1. Price: HostGator’s VPS hosting costs were competitive.
2. VPS Upgrades Available: I liked the fact that HostGator offers 10 VPS hosting levels. I started with a level 4. That means I have plenty of room to increase my VPS bandwidth until I need to pay for a dedicated server.
3. Dedicated Servers: Although HG made transferring my sites a breeze, I prefer avoiding transferring sites in the future when the day arrives I must upgrade to a dedicated server (yes, I’m optimistic).
4. Reputation: HostGator has a good reputation and is a large company that doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. The last thing I need is a hosting service that disappears.
5. Tech Support: HG offers 24/7 live chat and telephone tech support. Since I’m not that tech-savvy with servers, I rely on tech support regularly.
6. C-Panel: HostGator VPS hosting offers a C-Panel server. I was familiar with C-Panel with Bluehost and didn’t relish having to learn a new server user-interface.
HostGator offers more than VPS Hosting
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that HostGator offers baby plans for less than $10 per month for fully shared hosting. Therefore, if you don’t need VPS right now, a baby plan is a solid hosting starter plan.
Click here to buy HostGator Hosting:
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Please note that in addition to being a happy HostGator customer, I’m an affiliate for them which means if you click a link above and/or use a coupon code when purchasing an account, I may receive a commission.
Related posts:
- My HostGator Reviews Series: In-Depth HostGator Review Part 1
- My HostGator Review – Part 2 of My HostGator Reviews Series
- HostGator vs. Bluehost Web Hosting Comparison: Compare Web Hosting Here
- My Bluehost Reviews Series: In-Depth Web Host Review – Part 1
- My Bluehost Review – Part 2: In-Depth Web Host Review
