A Year To Remember: 2017 in Review

The end of the year is just around the corner, making this is the optimal time to review some of our greatest achievements this year. Bluehost has been busy growing and expanding our culture, our involvement, technology, and our commitment to WordPress.

The Unmatched Marriage of Bluehost and WordPress

With the launch of our new experience this summer, we have revolutionized the way we seamlessly integrate with WordPress. This new cPanel took 6 months of hard work, research, and testing to ensure its success. We’ve simplified the onboarding experience, integrated the Marketplace, and created a better solution for WordPress site management.

We monitor performance on the new Bluehost experience platform in real-time and it consistently delivers WordPress pages 2-3 times faster than the prior technical stack. We also have a current initiative to balance server load across multiple cities.  This will reduce server density and increase website performance. Our goal is to provide continuous and iterative development on the customer experience and the best WordPress hosting experience in the industry.

Have you enjoyed the new experience? Share your thoughts with us in the comments. Want to know what others think of it? Here’s what the CEO of WordPress offered:

Our Commitment to the WordPress Community

Now, more than ever, we are committed to WordPress. We are particularly active in the WordCamp community and continue to build our ties with WordPress users worldwide. 

WordCamps are community-led events in cities around the world that offer a welcome environment to learn and grow in your WordPress journey. While WordCamps are fun and interactive, they are also a place to make lasting connections that can change the lives of others. Just this year, a young man shared his story about how his experience with WordCamp and dinner with the Bluehost team kept him from ending his life as planned. We are humbled and honored to be part of a community that heals, restores, and advances people every day. This year, Bluehost has been more involved than ever in WordCamps around the world. In 2017 alone, we attended 22+ WordCamps; including WordCamp US in Nashville and WordCamp Europe in Paris. And in addition to that, our Bluehost Tempe office now hosts monthly WordPress meet-ups. These meet-ups help to build the community and empower new and pro users alike in the Phoenix area.

WordCamp US – All Roads Led to Nashville, TN

The largest WordCamp in the states is undoubtedly WordCamp US. This year, it was held in Nashville, TN. We convened at Music City, a short walk from the iconic Broadway St. Attendees were excited to meet friends, make new friends, and hear some amazing speakers talk about WordPress. This amazing conference ended with the brilliant and thoughtful State of the Word address from WordPress CEO, Matt Mullenweg.

We sponsored two people to attend WordCamp US through Women Who WP, and one person through our social media giveaway.
Janelle Franz, our social media winner, talks about her experience with the Bluehost team and her first-ever WordCamp on her blog, Invent Your Story. She describes WordCamp as an energetic meeting of likeminded people. 
She said that she most enjoyed sessions by David Laietta, Monique Dubbelman, and Christie Chirinos because they gave real-life experience, practical tools and advice, and problem-solving tools that she could use to build her website.

When asked how she felt with the Bluehost team, she said, “Meeting the Bluehost team was the best experience. I was traveling by myself and I felt right at home and welcome with open arms. I was thankful to spend time with a smaller group because I got to know the team a little more and being able to hang out at the party was completely awesome.” Want to attend a WordCamp in your city, WordCamp US, or win a host of other prizes? Be sure to subscribe to our blog and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Affiliates on the Rise

With over $10 million in commissions paid in 2017, it’s safe to say that our affiliate team is thriving. With the quality affiliates that we work with, that number is expected to substantially grow in 2018.
We haven’t only grown in one area, our team has also been expanding! We’ve added 7 new employees to our affiliate team in order to better serve our thriving community of advocates.

Our affiliate program is simple. Just promote Bluehost on your website with custom banners and links. For every visitor who clicks through these links and signs up, your receive $65. Do you have an established website and following? Bring in consistent sales and we would be happy to raise your commission. Simple right? Just help others learn why Bluehost is so great and the more you do so, the more you make!
Check out what our affiliates, Syed Balkhi and Scott Chow have to say about our program:

In 2018, look forward to seeing us at multiple nationwide conferences, such as BlogHer & Affiliate Summit West, just to name a few.

New Ventures and Greater Reach

If you listen to podcasts like, How We Built This, you may have heard us as a sponsor. We are proud to support podcasts who advocate for the growth of individuals and businesses alike. Listeners of podcasts are given exclusive offers to start building their Bluehost website. Expect to see more new ventures like this underway in 2018.

Have you seen any of our YouTube educational videos? We’ve created content to not only help you through your WordPress onboarding, but also to give you real life tools and techniques that will help you be successful. Here are some of our favorites from 2017.

Notice a trending word in this blog? It’s COMMUNITY. It is because of you that we are successful and excited about what the future holds for our company. Thank you for joining us on our journey this year. Tell us what you are looking forward to in 2018!  Share in the comments below.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!