3 ms·

GoDaddy is the armpit of the tech industry. It preys on uneducated users (generally "business" people), sells with sex, and offers mediocre products at best - a

by jbwyme 15y ago

GoDaddy is the armpit of the tech industry. It preys on uneducated users (generally "business" people), sells with sex, and offers mediocre products at best - and even that is quite liberal. It just goes to show you how important marketing is.

mashmac2 15y ago
How important marketing is in a marketplace that's relatively standardized. A domain name is a domain name, no matter where it is bought (relatively so), making marketing your company crucially important.
- KaeseEs 15y ago
  I would argue that the marketplace isn't well standardized, but rather that some information information (eg. on practices related to domain transfer and takedown) is unavailable to or ignored by most of the consumers in the market, causing the observed irrationality that results in GoDaddy remaining solvent.
- jbwyme 15y ago
  If you isolate GoDaddy as a domain registrar then I would be likely to agree. However, I have been forced to work with hundreds of people that use GoDaddy hosting for instance which is certainly not standardized. GoDaddy has thousands of products - just try buying a domain and see how much upsell there is.
icey 15y ago
Everyone knows that GoDaddy isn't a great company (including the small business owners that use them); it's interesting that they don't have a strong direct competitor. There are many registrars, but none that have nearly the level of traction that GoDaddy has. Seems like an opportunity for some company to be the Zappos / Southwest / Amazon of domain registration - easy to use, no-frills, low-cost, excellent customer service. I wonder why that company isn't out there yet.
- MatthewPhillips 15y ago
  Hover.com
  - joshfinnie 15y ago
    Would $15 be considered "low-cost" in the domain market? * They are the people who own common last names as URLs and sell josh@finnie.com for $35 a year too!
    - MatthewPhillips 15y ago
      The $15 includes free whois privacy. For GoDaddy that's an extra 7 or 8 dollars (last time I checked) on top of their 11.99 domain cost. Hover also has excellent customer service and 0 upsell. I'm sure you can find cheaper registrants out there but Hover is the very definition of a customer focused company.
      - ceejayoz 15y ago
        Whois privacy makes the registrar the legal owner of your domain, not you. I'm not OK with that. http://www.circleid.com/pdf/solidhostnamecheap.pdf http://www.circleid.com/pdf/solidhostnamecheap.pdf
      - trafficlight 15y ago
        Whois privacy is worthless. For the most part, it's pretty clear who owns the domain if you actually visit the website.
- jbwyme 15y ago
  Everyone knows that GoDaddy isn't a great company (including the small business owners that use them) I have had previous employers force me to move us off of GMail to GoDaddy email because they thought "Gmail sucks". People also continue to host with GoDaddy (which I do not believe to be in order to save $10-$15 per month) even after I have showed them better alternatives from a performance aspect. I agree with you that there is an opportunity in the market but as I stated in my original post I think GoDaddy preys on the uneducated who believe the most popular/largest ad budget is certainly the best option.

by jbwyme 15y ago

mashmac2 15y ago

How important marketing is in a marketplace that's relatively standardized. A domain name is a domain name, no matter where it is bought (relatively so), making marketing your company crucially important.

KaeseEs 15y ago
I would argue that the marketplace isn't well standardized, but rather that some information information (eg. on practices related to domain transfer and takedown) is unavailable to or ignored by most of the consumers in the market, causing the observed irrationality that results in GoDaddy remaining solvent.
jbwyme 15y ago
If you isolate GoDaddy as a domain registrar then I would be likely to agree. However, I have been forced to work with hundreds of people that use GoDaddy hosting for instance which is certainly not standardized. GoDaddy has thousands of products - just try buying a domain and see how much upsell there is.

icey 15y ago

Everyone knows that GoDaddy isn't a great company (including the small business owners that use them); it's interesting that they don't have a strong direct competitor. There are many registrars, but none that have nearly the level of traction that GoDaddy has. Seems like an opportunity for some company to be the Zappos / Southwest / Amazon of domain registration - easy to use, no-frills, low-cost, excellent customer service. I wonder why that company isn't out there yet.

MatthewPhillips 15y ago
Hover.com
- joshfinnie 15y ago
  Would $15 be considered "low-cost" in the domain market? * They are the people who own common last names as URLs and sell josh@finnie.com for $35 a year too!
  - MatthewPhillips 15y ago
    The $15 includes free whois privacy. For GoDaddy that's an extra 7 or 8 dollars (last time I checked) on top of their 11.99 domain cost. Hover also has excellent customer service and 0 upsell. I'm sure you can find cheaper registrants out there but Hover is the very definition of a customer focused company.
    - ceejayoz 15y ago
      Whois privacy makes the registrar the legal owner of your domain, not you. I'm not OK with that. http://www.circleid.com/pdf/solidhostnamecheap.pdf http://www.circleid.com/pdf/solidhostnamecheap.pdf
    - trafficlight 15y ago
      Whois privacy is worthless. For the most part, it's pretty clear who owns the domain if you actually visit the website.
jbwyme 15y ago
Everyone knows that GoDaddy isn't a great company (including the small business owners that use them) I have had previous employers force me to move us off of GMail to GoDaddy email because they thought "Gmail sucks". People also continue to host with GoDaddy (which I do not believe to be in order to save $10-$15 per month) even after I have showed them better alternatives from a performance aspect. I agree with you that there is an opportunity in the market but as I stated in my original post I think GoDaddy preys on the uneducated who believe the most popular/largest ad budget is certainly the best option.