Prolific web host Bluehost today announced a WordPress website builder aimed at helping SMBs create sites in minutes. This follows a clear trend in the website world towards vertical integration and expanded features (more on that in a bit), and has clear synergies and adjacencies to Bluehost’s core hosting product.
Known simply as Bluehost Website Builder, it operates specifically within the expansive WordPress ecosystem, which is Bluehost’s jam. It features a “smart-design” editor for WordPress sites that automates much of the site-building heavy lifting such as images and themes. It claims to reduce site building time by 25 percent.
WordPress-Native
Bluehost accomplishes the above through an onboarding process in which SMBs enter basic info. It then processes those inputs into a pro-grade website. Beyond this simple wizard-like setup process, it’s meant to grow with SMBs as they get savvier, including options for more advanced customization.
As those familiar with WordPress know, customization usually happens in the wp-admin dashboard. Bluehost Website Builder interfaces with this standard tool as an option for SMBs who want an easy site-construction option. It also adds customization tools to WordPress’ Gutenberg editor on a per-page basis.
In other words, Bluehost Website Builder acts sort of like a WordPress plugin in that it adds functionality and interfaces with WordPress basic architecture and wp-admin functions. Other WordPress-native features and integrations include custom CSS, a library of free stock images, and 300+ quick-start templates.
“Bluehost’s new Website Builder simplifies the website building process by combining the power of a smart-design builder with WordPress, one of the most popular website-building tools available,” Newfold Digital CEO & President Sharon Rowlands told Localogy Insider. “With the Bluehost Website Builder, small business owners can use features like drag and drop editing, custom fonts, and an image library to get their business online faster.”
Vertical Integration
All of the above follows an ongoing trend where web hosts offer tools beyond hosting. This has always been the case with more expensive managed-hosting providers like WP Engine. Bluehost is rather a standard hosting player with more affordable pricing, but it continues to add competitive non-hosting features.
In that sense, Bluehost’s expansion follows another trend we’ve been tracking which is vertical integration for players that traditionally existed at specific points in the website stack. Covering a more extensive portion of the stack conversely gains economies of scale and customer lock-in (read: retention).
This is also important for web hosts as the function itself has become commoditized. As often happens with commodities, players compete on price which causes a “race to the bottom” and compressed margins. Smart website hosts are expanding their offerings to boost retention and higher-margin upsells.
The latter can include website-adjacent functions like eCommerce, SEO, and social marketing. Bluehost’s website builder isn’t in this bucket of “upsells” but is nonetheless aligned with a clear trend towards functional expansion for web hosts. In this case, it will help Bluehost attract and keep SMB customers.
Keep It Simple
Speaking of SMBs, Bluehost Website Builder is aimed squarely at this segment, and is purpose-built for SMB proclivities and pain points. As we covered recently in light of Fisherman, simplicity, automation and time-savings are key success factors for SMB-targeted websites and digital marketing products.
Bluehost’s new tool checks all these boxes and has other strategic merits such as the expansion play outlined above. Lastly, this strategic positioning comes in the wake of the mega-rollup of Bluehost’s new owner Newfold Digital. As we examined at the time, we can expect ample product updates and synergies.
We’ll double down on that statement and expect to see more from Bluehost and the Newfold family of SMB digital marketing products. Meanwhile, more details on Bluehost Website Builder can be seen here, and you can check out our recent M&A roundtable below, in which we discussed Newfold’s rollup dynamics.
