Bluehost is the leading hosting service available today due to its ease of use interface, 24/7 customer support, and valuable website analytics tools.
In August this year(2021), Bluehost added a new product a drag-and-drop Bluehost Website Builder, that aims at making building a website easier and simplifies the website creation process while maintaining the full power of WordPress.
Unlike other all-in-one site builders, the Bluehost website builder uses the WordPress content management system (CMS). The launch of this product reinforces the commitment of Bluehost to developing accessible WordPress solutions for any kind of website.
Considering Bluehost Website Builder to create a website? In this review, we’ll help you decide if it’s the best website builder for your needs.
Bluehost website builder review
Bluehost Website Builder is different from standalone website builders like Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly as it uses a unique approach. Bluehost Website Builder’s unique drag-and-drop WordPress integration, makes it a great way to build a customizable website. You do get an intuitive interface to build your creative website with Bluehost Website Builder, but all you’re really doing is editing a theme for WordPress. The only difference is you’ll be able to control everything using the custom Bluehost Website Builder dashboard. The WordPress software is still the engine underneath your site, and you still have the option to access the full WordPress admin dashboard and install plugins if need be.
All Bluehost Website Builder plans automatically includes an email marketing plugin for WordPress called Creative Mail that you can use to create great-looking email newsletters, and automatically send out emails to your subscribers and customers(Some of Creative Mail’s advanced features requires an additional plan starting at $4.95/month).
One of the amazing key features of the Bluehost website builder is it’s ability to integrate a WordPress blog into your website. After you’ve linked your blog and site, any changes made on your WordPress blog reflects on your Bluehost website builder in that you’ll have the ability to write your blogs on WordPress blogging system and make use of Bluehost Website Builder interface in designing how the blog pages look.
Bluehost Website Builder: Plans & pricing
| Plan/Feature | Basic | Pro | ONLINE STORE |
| Cost per month | $10.99 | $14.99 | $39.95 |
| Cost per year | $131.88 | $179.88 | $479.4 |
| Unlimited websites | Available | Available | Available |
| Free domain | Available | Available | Available |
| SSL certificate | Available | Available | Available |
| Domain privacy | N/A | Available | Available |
| Codeguard Backup Basic – Included | N/A | N/A | Available |
Each of the available plans is payable in a 12-month or 36-month contract. The Pro plan has a reduced price for the first term if you choose the 36-month contract with all plans including hosting for unlimited websites, blog post management, and email marketing tools.
You must sign up for either a 12- or 36-month plan. Your first term qualifies for promotional pricing, which can be up to 75% off the regular price.
What it’s like creating a site with Bluehost Website Builder
Inorder to create a website powered on the Bluehost Website Builder, you’ll have to choose the Bluehost Website Builder option during sign-up.
Let’s take a look at some key parts of the Bluehost Website Builder:
1. User-friendly setup wizard
On building a new site, the set up wizard helps you in configuring key site’s basics.
One of my favorite key feature is the fact that you can enter a keyword for your website’s niche/purpose and the builder will automatically choose a template to match.
Moreover, you’ll be able to configure some other important details like colors, logo, typography, contact details, etc.
2. Drag-and-drop editor
You’ll be able to customize your site after you’re done with the set up wizard. With Bluehost Website Builder’s drag-and-drop editor, you’ll be able to your website and all the pages on it.
You should be very keen on understanding the section based approach used by the drag-and-drop editor as it makes it a bit easier to create a good-looking design.
Basically sections are these little mini templates that you can put together like Lego blocks to create the perfect design.
You’ll not be able to change the layout of the elements that ar inside the section although you can customize all of the content, colors, etc. Aside from that, you’re also able to disable particular elements using the sidebar on the right.
There are four elements in the sidebar under the Elements heading.
- Title
- Subtitle
- Description
- Buttons
If the layout of a section isn’t up to your taste, you could always replace it with a different section template.
3. Search engine optimization (SEO) settings
With the Website Builder also come SEO features though not advanced. For every page, you can set the SEO title and meta description for Google and also control the URL slug.
This builder should be fine for beginner’s SEO.
4. Full access to WordPress dashboard
As mentioned earlier in this review, Bluehost Website Builder is based on the WordPress software and if need be, you can access the WordPress dashboard by just clicking the WP Admin link in the builder interface.
One thing though, the intergaration may not be as seamless as per to your expectation. Let’s say you get to install a new plugin, may not be as easy to use that plugin in the Bluehost Website Builder as it is with WordPress dashboard.
What does this mean?
The Bluehost Website Builder’s built-in features can eliminate a lot of the need for plugins, so theres no need to panic.
As an added advantage, You can also use the regular WordPress editor to create or edit pages.
5. Blogging
Planning on creating a blog? Bluehost Website Builder also has built-in support for blogging.
All you need to do is add a blog and designing the blog page using the editor. You’ll have access to dedicated sections to display your blog posts:
When adding posts though, you’ll need to use the regular WordPress dashboard and editor.
Who Does Bluehost Website Builder best suit?
- Beginners interested in using WordPress.
- Small businesses insearch of all in one site building solution.
- High traffic sites.
- Businesses looking for affordable hosting solutions.
- Businesses intrested in advanced SEO.
Who Bluehost Website Builder Isn’t Best For
- Ecommerce businesses
- Experienced WordPress users
- Businesses looking to quickly set up their site.
Pros and cons of Bluehost Website Builder
In summary of the Bluehost website builder review, let’s take a look at the pros and cons:
PROS
- Beginner-friendly way to build a site on WordPress.
- Clean interface with one-click access to the WordPress dashboard.
- Ability to choose a design for your niche just by entering a keyword.
- Low-cost unlimited storage for content-heavy sites.
- Unlimited bandwidth for unlimited web traffic.
- 30-day money-back guarantee
CONS
- Basic design for those looking to build unique-looking sites.
- WordPress integrations aren’t seamless.
- No native ecommerce features and very basic built-in features.
Bluehost Website Builder review summary
All in all, The fact that Bluehost isn’t well known as it’s hosting service, it comes in handy for users with no idea of where to begin when building a WordPress site. But if you’ve already a few websites on WordPress and looking to creating a unique looking site, then you’d probable go for your usual WordPress as the Bluehost website builder is not really designed for advance users.
Is Bluehost website builder right for you? Click get started to grab it now!!
If any questions about our Bluehost Website Builder review or the builder in general? Let us know in the comments!
