Here's your guide on how to build a website with Hostgator. It offers not just hosting services but other web hosting products, too.
Products and Services:
- Shared Hosting is an easy and affordable way to start.
- WordPress Hosting provides speed, advanced security and free migrations.
- VPS Hosting offers dedicated control, full root access and scalable resources.
- Dedicated Hosting promises total control, full management tools and absolute performance.
- Reseller Hosting for reselling Hostgator's amazing services and products.
- Website Builder is a drag and drop way of building websites with no programming or coding requirement.
Full Affiliate Disclosure:
Fulltime Blogging is a participant in the Hostgator affiliate program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to hostgator.com. As a Hostgator Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
PROS:
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How To Build A Website With Hostgator
1. Get Hosting Service, Secure Domain Name
A domain name and a hosting service are two basic requirements of building a website for earning money. You can get these two separately or you can get both from one place such as from Hostgator.
a. Choose a domain name. You could either register a new domain or enter a domain you already own. There is one year free domain registration on select annual plans.
b. Choose the hosting plan you want to buy.
c. Provide your personal information to create your Hostgator account (or login if you are already a Hostgator customer).
d. Enter your billing information.
e. Add extra features or products.
f. Enter coupon code (if available).
g. Check box to agree to TOS, Cancellation Policy and Privacy Notice before clicking the “Checkout Now” button.
You will see a thank you page afterwards. Check your email to find your Hostgator receipt and Hostgator cPanel login details.
2. Choose Your Website Building Framework
After logging in to your Hostgator cPanel, there are main menus to navigate through. Inside the “Website Essentials” menu, you will find One-Click Installs. You can pick the website building platform you want to use with your Hostgator Cloud.
a. WordPress. One of the most popular website building platforms (personal or business) is WordPress. It powers about 35% of all websites in the world. You can find WordPress in one-click installs options in your cPanel dashboard. Just follow the simple steps for setting up your website.
You need your domain name, website name, your name, your admin name and password for the install settings. Click the “Install” button and get directed to the installation complete page. Here, you will find your installation details, which you should save in a safe place (in case you forget them).
To access your WordPress admin page to manage your website, type your domain name with /wp-admin at the end, (i.e. yourdomainname.com/wp-admin). Once logged in, you may work on the contents of your website.
b. Website Builder. WordPress is not the only building platform you can use. You may also select any of the website builders out there. Speaking of website builders, Hostgator has its own website builder. The Basic Plan of Gator Website builder comes free with "Hostgator Shared and Cloud Sites" plans.
The steps for building a website may also start by first heading over to the website building platform you want to use, like Gator Builder. There, you need to enter your domain name since each plan comes with free domain name registration and hosting.
c. From Scratch. If you can spend a lot of time and effort, and if you have knowledge in website building and programming, you may also build your website from scratch.For convenience, use the first one, WordPress since that is what my free lessons is incorporated with.
Hostgator Cloud Plans And Pricing
Look at the image below for the available Hostgator plans.
WordPress Hosting Plans
starter
$5.95*
standard
$7.95*
business
$9.95*
The monthly fee for each plan seems cheap because it's for the 36-months term (the most cost-saving plan). It's also just an introductory price and renews at the normal rate when the term you selected expires.
Despite this, I think it is good that Hostgator allows customers to have what seems like a "trial." It allows you to buy a 1 month plan for $14.95. You can also buy 3 months plan or 6 months plan at the same price.
Remember also that these rates above are promotional rates as of October 2020. You will pay a different price when you renew your plan.
The regular monthly rates in the table below will apply on plan renewal.
Plan | Starter | Standard | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
Monthly | $14.95/mo. | $20.95/mo. | $27.95/mo. |
1 Year | $12.95/mo. | $17.95.mo. | $24.95/mo. |
2 years | $10.95/mo. | $16.95/mo. | $23.95/mo. |
3 Years | $9.95/mo. | $15.95/mo. | $22.95/mo. |
In Closing
Starting a website in Hostgator Cloud is just like starting a website elsewhere, but with Hostgator, you might never need to migrate at all since it will allow you scale your business and upgrade to more highend plans when time comes that you need it. Their uptime guarantee can also give you a peace of mind, although it would be better if it's 100% uptime guarantee like the Dreamhost.
To compare it with the Cloudways (my recommendation for people who cannot access Wealthy Affiliate), here's a comparable table.
Cloudways | Hostgator |
|---|---|
 |  |
Lowest Monthly Price: $10/month | Lowest Monthly Price: $19.95/month (36-months minimum) $29.95/mo. no commitment |
Name of plan/server: Digital Ocean | Name of plan/server: VPS Hosting Snappy 2000 |
Server Size/RAM: 1GB | Server Size/RAM: 2GB |
Processor: 1 Core | Processor: 2 Cores |
SSD (Storage) Disk: 25 GB | SSD (Storage) Disk: 120 GB |
Bandwidth: 1TB | Bandwidth: "Unmetered" |
IP Address: 1 | IP Address: No upfront disclosure |
Upfront option to choose a server's location: Yes | Upfront option to choose a server's location: No |
Pay As You Go Option: Yes | Pay As You Go Option: No |
Scale Up Anytime: Yes | Scale Up Anytime: Depends on your plan. If you choose a plan with a lock-in period, read the terms and conditions. You can also contact the company for special consideration. |
Why chose Cloudways: The Pay As You Go Option is good since as you experience the platform, you can change your mind about the add-ons you purchase. When I created another server for tutorial purposes, it appeared in my billing realtime. But when I removed it the next day, it was removed from my billing, too.
If Digital Ocean server ended up not suitable for you anymore, you can change servers without leaving the Cloudways platform.
Billing is one calendar month after consumption. As you need more features, the option to scale up is there. It's an affordable choice for something that you do not need to share anyone with.
Here's the "unmetered" disclosure of Hostgator:
"Disk space and bandwidth is "Unmetered" which means you are not charged according to the amount of disk space or bandwidth you use."
"Customers who are using 25% or more of system resources for longer than 90 seconds would be in violation of our Terms of Service. Please see our Terms of Service or contact us with any questions."
25% of 120 GB storage is 30GB. Why not just put 30 GB in the pricing table to be more transparent?
I do not have time to track the traffic/bandwidth usage everyday. It's an inconvenience I do not want to be involved in.
As a newbie, I highly encourage you to get a “Managed” plan. Site Support is important as you can get stuck with technicals, and it can hinder your content creation process.
Managing your own server is ideal if you know the technicals already or are patient enough to get past any technical learning curve. With this, hosting in Wealthy Affiliate is a good starting point.
Here’s a comparable table with Hostgator:
Hostgator | Wealthy Affiliate |
|---|---|
|  |
Lowest Monthly Price: $20.95/month (no commitment) | Lowest All-In Monthly Price: 49/month (no commitment) |
Name of plan/server: WordPress Hosting, Standard | Name of plan/server: Wealthy Affiliate Premium/Amazon Web Services (AWS) |
SSD (Storage) Disk: "Unmetered" Disclaimer: Customers who are using 25% or more of system resources for longer than 90 seconds would be in violation of the Terms of Service. Please see Terms of Service. | SSD (Storage) Disk: 30 GB |
Bandwidth: 200,000 Monthly Visits | Bandwidth: 250,000 Monthly Visits |
Premium Site Support: Included Premium Support | Premium Site Support: Included but not priority |
Site Speed/Caching: Not specified | Site Speed/Caching: Included/Built-in |
Site Protect/Website Security: Free CodeGuard/SiteLock Fix/Automatic Malware Removal | Site Protect/Website Security: Built-in/Included (up to 10 websites) |
Professional Emails: Unlimited | Professional Emails: Unlimited |
Number of Websites Allowed: 2 WordPress Sites | Number of Websites Allowed: 10 ($100/mo. value) |
Managed 24/7: Yes | Managed 24/7: Yes |
Dual Server Hosting Redundancy: Not specified | Dual Server Hosting Redundancy: Yes |
Instant DNS: Not Specified | Instant DNS: Yes |