I'm sorry to hear about your experience with Bluehost.
I think my best advice for a successful website is to provide value to your reader/listener and they'll keep coming back.
Sometimes you'll provide value through storytelling and sometimes you'll provide value by offering your expertise in an area. As long as you're solving a problem for your audience they'll keep coming back.
Or, write a book that sells well and people will pop over to your website or podcast to hear more about that same subject.