Do I need sitelock security on bluehost? A question that most of us asks ourselves when purchasing new hosting!
When I first started blogging I had no idea what SiteLock was, and like you, I was just getting started with this site so ended up buying it.
It wasn’t overly costly, but I truely wish there was some better guidance around it so that you can be aware of what you are buying.
So that’s what really inspired this little mini-article about SiteLock essential security. I’m going to cover the answer to the question that brought you here in the first place, but also I’m going to cover some related issues you may have.
Hopefully, I cover it all but if not feel free to leave a comment in the box below and will include that when I update this post.
Do I need sitelock security on bluehost?
Plain and simple, no you do not need to get SiteLock security on bluehost when purchasing a new hosting plan.
This is something I wish I knew when I started Bottom Line Cents just over two years ago, when my plan renewed I made sure to disable it so that I wasn’t charged again.
If you do happen to mistakenly add this option on when checking out, then don’t worry you can apply for a refund with Bluehost and most of the time you’ll be eligible for it.
But be wary, I canceled mine but somehow it magically was ticked again and was due to renew. So always check your bluehost account, in case it gets enabled again and you get build for it.
If you can’t get a refund, then just let it be and use the benefits it comes with. There are plenty of free wordpress plugins that do a similar job to what site host does in my opinion.
Related Article: How to Start a WordPress Blog
Is it important to purchase SiteLock from Bluehost
Sitelock is a package extra that is recommended, but it is not important to purchase it! A lot of hosting companies, including bluehost push this product so that they can improve their sales overall.
In a nutshell, there are plenty of free WordPress plugins that will do the same that SiteLock does and it will not cost you 1 penny.
Feel free to not purchase SiteLock from bluehost when getting a new hosting account to save yourself some serious cash.
What is SiteLock security bluehost?
SiteLock essential security for bluehost allows you to protect your website from malware and external attacks from hackers.
It can also protect your website from landing on google’s blacklists, which can often lead to downtime on your site.
In order to end up on a search engine’s blacklist you’ll need to be doing some pretty shady SEO, that is often detected by their algorithms.
If you do get a malware attack on your site, then SiteLock essential provides you with automated malware removal.
But again, generally, you can get some pretty decent WordPress plugins like Akismet Anti-Spam plugin, which stops all these nasty spam attacks on your new website.
How do I remove SiteLock from Bluehost?
When signing up for a new hosting plan with Bluehost, removing SiteLock security from your purchase is as simple as unticking the checkbox under “Package Extras” when checking out.
- To fully remove SiteLock add on from Bluehost login to your bluehost account, on the top right click your profile image.
- Next select “Products”, and scroll to the bottom of the account screen and under “Products and Services” you’ll see Sitelock Security for your domains.
- Click the three dots and select “Set to Expire”, this will let the add on expire and you won’t get billed for it when you’re up for renewal.
Unfortunately, you cannot fully remove the product so the best you can do is make sure it doesn’t renew when you’re hosting comes up for renewal.
It is a bit of an annoying thing to do, but I normally get reminder emails to when my hosting will expire. These emails are usually a good reminder for removing it from the renewable products list.
Once you’ve set it to expire, you shouldn’t get charged for it at all, however, if you missed this cut off date then get in touch with Bluehost support and request a refund.
Related Article: Blogging for Dummies
How much does Sitelock Cost?
Site lock security costs around $2.99 per month, and is billed annually for the length of your plan. So if you get a 36 month plan, you’ll be charged around $107.64 on top of your hosting costs.
It can definitely be a major addition that is not needed when you purchase the domain, and to be honest I could have saved myself a bit of money if I knew all these things.
If you really want to get SiteLock, then that is the cost! However, you could use this money on something else for your blog, like getting a premium theme or visual page builder like thrive architect.
Eventually, when you want to look a little professional, you’ll need to invest in these other WordPress tools that are not free.
Related Article: The Best Visual WordPress Page and Post Builder
Final Thoughts
To summarise, no you do not need sitelock security on bluehost! Sitelock is a great addition that can unnecessarily increase the startup costs of your blog, which is not needed.
Instead, get free WordPress plugins that can do the majority of what this package extra costs and then use that money to invest in premium blog theme or something else you may actually need to pay for.
If I knew these little things when I started this blog, I would have saved myself so many costs as I’ve renewed Bottom Line Cents now over two years, and got billed each time for SiteLock.
Important Resources
- Bluehost is what I use for hosting Bottom Line Cents. I've been using them for about 2 years and don't have any down time or run time issues. Start Your Own Blog Tutorial is a good post to learn how to start your own blog and make money.
- The majority of my WordPress Plugins is from Thrive Themes. Thrive Themes have a conversion focused tool set that is perfect for any blog wanting to improve lead generation. They offer Thrive Architect, for visually editing your WordPress site, Thrive Leads for building your mailing list and Thrive Quiz Builder for building dynamic quiz's on your website and there is plenty more. You can view the entire plugin set here: Thrive Themes
- My grammar when writing posts is sometimes shocking, because I write so fast and have no time to edit as I go. So before I hit publish, I check my grammar with Grammarly. The best part is grammarly is FREE!
- I use Get Response to collect all my email leads. It has helped me grow a dedicated so that I can get my latest articles out to my existing audience that have signed up to this. If you need decent and reliable (and cost effective) email marketing service that offers a 30 Day Free Trial then Get Response is your go to!
- For high quality responsive WordPress themes I recommend Studiopress. I've ran a couple of blogs using their themes and framework and they've been around for a long time and built a good reputation for building SEO Optimized Themes that are fast loading and responsive. I've reviewed some of thier themes here.
- If you're wanting to start ranking on google or getting featured in places like Forbes or similiar then the only SEO course I recommend is Stupid Simple SEO. I joined this course in 2019 and my google traffic has gotten traction and I've also been featured in places like Fundera Ledger.
- Tailwindapp is a tool I use to schedule Pinterest Pins and Instagram posts. They have a free trial which is free for an unlimited time, however you are limited to a certain amount of posts to schedule per day. If you need to schedule more than that you need to upgrade your account.
- Pretty Links helps me keep my links clean and helps making managing multiple affiliate links a breeze. Imagine having to replace every single link in all the post that contain an affiliate link for a product, two words - TIME CONSUMING.
- Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is a course I recommend by Michelle from Making Sense of Cents. This course helped me make money from affiliate marketing.
- Pinterest Traffic Avalanche is another course I recommend. The course has helped me (and will help you) get free traffic from Pinterest Marketing. I shared my results here on how I gained over 300% traffic!
These are companies and courses/services I've personally vetted and recommend.
