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GoDaddy

GoDaddy is a privately owned, Internet-based company that provides a variety of services including domain name registration, web hosting and e-business software sales. The company, which is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, was founded by Bob Parsons. Parsons previously owned a financial services software company, which he sold in the mid-1990s upon retirement. He came out of retirement in 1997 to form Jomax Technologies, the predecessor to GoDaddy.

Since it’s inception, GoDaddy has risen to become the largest domain registrar in the world, with tens of million of domains registered to its clients. The company ranks as the world’s largest ICANN-accredited registrar; it’s approximately four times larger than its nearest competition. Recent corporate acquisitions include Outright, Locu, Afternic, and Media Temple.

GoDaddy has redefined Internet hosting services, and it has been the recipient of numerous industry awards and accolades. Among these awards are the 2001 Arizona BBB award for Business Ethics and the 2011 SC Magazine award for Best Security Team. In 2011, it ranked number four in the Phoenix Business Magazine list of “Best Places to Work in the Valley” and it made the 2012 Forbes list of “Best 100 Companies to Work For.”

Known for its sometimes controversial commercials and interesting spokespersons, GoDaddy also sponsors a number of charitable causes in support of domestic violence and child abuse awareness, and sports events, including NASCAR and the Super Bowl. In 2013, the company shifted its advertising strategy to focus more on small to medium sized business owners (SMB). Reflecting this change, its commercials and advertising materials shifted from “sexy” to smart.

“What Makes This Domain Name Valuable?”

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As Aziz noted this morning on X, GoDaddy has added an AI feature to its for sale landing pages, allowing prospective buyers to get additional insight into why a domain name is valuable. On the right side of GoDaddy “for sale” landers, there’s an “Ask AI” button visible.

Clicking the button opens a pop-up window with a pre-populated question, What makes this domain name valuable? Clicking the prompt draws an AI-generated response from the tool emphasizing some of the unique traits of the domain name.

GoDaddy Auctions Expands AI Images and Descriptions

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I recently noticed that GoDaddy Auctions began incorporating artificial intelligence-generated images and descriptions to its auction listings. This AI-generated content appears in the Details section below the fold, so visitors would need to scroll below the bid field to view this section for each auction. This field appears above comparable sales and other data related to the domain name in auction.

Here’s an example of the AI generated image and description for Trickster.com, a domain name that is currently in auction at GoDaddy:

GoDaddy to Retire SmartName This Month

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In 2013, GoDaddy acquired Afternic and SmartName. SmartName is a domain name monetization platform founded by Larry Fischer and Ari Goldberger. SmartName has continued to operate post-acquisition, and I use it to monetize some of my domain names that perform better there than elsewhere.

When I logged into my SmartName account yesterday afternoon, I noticed a message informing customers that SmartName is going to be retired later on this month. Accounts will be migrated to GoDaddy’s CashParking service, a similar type of domain name monetization platform.

GoDaddy Rings Opening Bell at NYSE

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GoDaddy executives range the opening bell this morning at the New York Stock Exchange. The honor was given to GoDaddy to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of GoDaddy becoming a publicly traded company. At the center of the GoDaddy team is Aman Bhutani, CEO of GoDaddy for the last 5+ years.

Afternic Should Better Explain Broker Communication Process

My Afternic Lead Center is full of Stalled, Qualifying, Confused, and Unknown leads. As a domain investor, this is pretty confusing and slightly frustrating. I don’t blame Afternic brokers for this because I have become familiar with how their platform works, but I do think Afternic and GoDaddy should better educate its sellers on the brokerage process.

When a prospective buyer submits an offer or inquiry, I am pretty certain they quickly receive an automated email with information about the domain name and a broker contact. The Afternic broker will follow up various times via email and a phone call if they have the correct phone number. Afternic brokers earn a living on commissions, so they have a vested interest in selling domain names.

Small Hurdle for Prospects When Afternic Self-Brokerage is Enabled

I enabled Afternic’s self-brokerage option as soon as I heard it went live. I immediately tested it out with one of my own domain names so I could see how the platform works as a buyer and as a seller. Before I got started, I ran into an issue, and I couldn’t tell if it was a feature or a bug. James Iles confirmed to me that it this difference is intentional.

When sellers have the self-brokerage option disabled, prospective buyers will be shown a form to submit an offer. On the form, they need to provide their name, email address, and phone number. There are also a few pop-up questions that appear after submitting the form. When sellers have self-brokerage enabled, prospective buyers who wish to submit an offer will need to sign-in to a GoDaddy account to proceed or create a new GoDaddy account. You can have a look at the difference here:

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