I’ve been working and teaching affiliate marketing for years now. One of the most common questions people always ask me is what WordPress hosting site they should choose for their new business. Most of the time, they’ve already done their research and found a couple of popular options they are considering. One of the most popular that comes up is HostGator. HostGator has a good reputation for WordPress hosting, so I’m not surprised this particular option comes up a lot. So I figured I would do a HostGator WordPress Hosting review so people understand if this is the right decision for them.
A Little Background On HostGator
I figured I’d start my HostGator WordPress hosting review with a little background on the company. HostGator is a Houston-based company that has been offering WordPress hosting services for nearly 15 years. The longevity of the company definitely speaks to their popularity. They are most known for offering green hosting, which is an eco-friendly form of hosting that uses sustainable technology to reduce carbon footprint. The introduction of green hosting is the primary reason their company has surpassed many of the other hosting options in popularity. In the last few years, they have experienced a lot of growth. Currently, they host over 9 million websites and have over 400,000 unique customers.
HostGator WordPress Hosting Options
Next, on my HostGator WordPress hosting review, I want to cover the basic offerings you will find with HostGator. Currently, HostGator offers four different types of hosting for WordPress including:
Cloud Hosting: Cloud hosting is a type of hosting that spreads storage across a variety of servers, otherwise known as the cloud. Cloud hosting is great for speed and reduces downtime from hardware malfunctions. However, it is not recommended for companies with larger storage needs.
Shared Hosting: Shared hosting is a type of hosting where multiple websites share a singular server. Shared hosting is great from a price perspective because it reduces the overhead costs by splitting them amongst multiple people, but it is not ideal for larger companies.
Dedicated Hosting: Dedicated hosting is when a website has entire servers dedicated to their hosting. Dedicated hosting is great for larger companies with a lot of traffic, but the price point is expensive, so it isn’t recommended for people just starting out.
VPS Hosting: VPS hosting is where the resources of a server is divided into virtual servers. This is also a great option for larger business, but not ideal for small companies because of the price.
These services all vary in cost from $5 a month to $150 a month depending on your specific traffic and storage needs. So there are a full variety of options at very affordable prices.
HostGator For Affiliate Marketers
Now ultimately, this HostGator WordPress hosting review is targeted for affiliate marketers or people looking to get started in affiliate marketing, so I really want to dive into reviewing their options for marketers. HostGator uses ImpactRadius for their affiliate program. So they do have an affiliate program partnership for marketers just starting out. HostGator also has all the great WordPress plugins for affiliate marketers need for search engine optimization, traffic tracking, and measuring conversion rates so you can tailor your marketing strategy for increased growth. So for affiliate marketing, it is definitely an option to consider.
HostGator Website Performance
Now that it’s established you could choose HostGator for your affiliate marketing websites, the next thing I want to go over on this HostGator WordPress hosting review is an evaluation of the performance. Now with so many options available the quality of performance depends entirely on which service package you choose. I think this is a little convoluted for people just getting started who may not know which is the best hosting option for them. However, the offerings are pretty substantial for their dedicated hosting packages which can have up to 3TB of storage, 128 GB of RAM, and unlimited monthly data transfers. This is a great package for a larger business, but not that good for smaller companies. I will also note that for WordPress hosting, they do offer easy automated transfer and quick load times which are really important at any size.
HostGator WordPress Hosting Pricing
As I stated before, I find the pricing at HostGator to be very affordable which is great no matter the size of your company. However, one thing I did not like is that you either have to pay a premium month to month rate or sign up for a 3-year package on the smaller plans. I really didn’t like that it defaults to a three-year package right away when you go to sign up, which I felt from a customer service perspective is not that great. Three years is a big commitment if you are just getting started. So I definitely have to say in my HostGator WordPress hosting review, this was the thing I disliked the most.
Final Thoughts On The HostGator WordPress Hosting Review
Ultimately, when considering the price, variety of options, and performance, I understand why HostGator is so popular among affiliate marketers. However, I have to say while I was researching this HostGator WordPress hosting review, I never found anything that really stuck out to me as a definitive reason to select HostGator. I think they offer the basic packages, features, and pricing you can get from most WordPress hosting sites if you do your homework. Instead, I think there are better hosting options on the market for affiliate marketers.
I’ve tried a lot of different WordPress hosting options and reviewed even more and the one that I always come back to is WPEngine. WPEngine offers so many more features for truly transparent pricing than other WordPress hosting sites. So in this HostGator WordPress hosting review, I would be remiss not to recommend checking out WPEngine before settling on any hosting platform including HostGator. I’ve used it for years and while reviewing HostGator, I didn’t see anything that they offer that WPEngine doesn’t do better. So ultimately, my review is that HostGator will work, but WPEngine is the best.
