Facebook RSS Twitter
Home GoDaddy Page 109

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.

Who I Don’t Think the Go Daddy .CO Girl Is

Elliot Silver
-
32

GoDaddy's .CO GirlEarlier today, Kevin Murphy posted the teaser photo released by Go Daddy with the back side of the new Go Daddy .CO girl who will be revealed in the Super Bowl commercial.

A couple weeks back, Mike Berkens speculated that it could be the very sexy Colombia-native Sofia Vergara, who stars in one of my wife’s favorite shows, Modern Family. This would seem like a good tie in since .CO is the Colombia ccTLD.

I have spent a lot of time reviewing this picture and inspecting similar pictures of Vergara. Anatomically, it looks like it could be her or perhaps even Shakira.

I am going to speculate that it won’t be Vergara or even Shakira, another famous Colombia-bred beauty. In my opinion, Go Daddy and the .CO Registry will not want to emphasize the Colombia connection to .CO and if anything, they may wish to de-emphasize it when selling it to the US public.

Colombia is a beautiful country with very welcoming people. But I don’t think the general US population will necessarily want to buy “Colombia domain names.” Much like the .TV extension likes to emphasize that it’s about “television” rather than Tuvulu, I think Go Daddy will probably de-emphasize the fact that it’s a country code TLD and prefer to emphasize that it’s an alternative to .com.

With a Colombian spokesmodel as the .CO girl, it will only play up its Colombia connection. It’s not a bad thing mind you, but you don’t really see .ME showing off it’s Montenegro roots. You can already see how Sedo is marketing its big .CO auction.

GoDaddy: “New .COMs and .COs $11.99”

Elliot Silver
-
18

Godaddy

I assume this is a pre-Super Bowl test, since the .CO offer ends on January 26, 2011, but Go Daddy has an interesting special offer splashed across its homepage right now: “New .COMs and .COs $11.99”

Instead of its frothy $29.99 price per domain name, Go Daddy is selling .CO domain names for $11.99/year for the first year only. If you opt to register a new domain name for longer than the first year, the regular price kicks back in after year one.

Perhaps more interesting than the price is the grouping of .COM and .CO together. Some people have shown concern that there could be confusion if people “accidentally” purchase a .CO instead of .COM, which is what was discussed when Go Daddy made .CO a default in a previous test.

Now with the price being the same and .COM the default, Go Daddy will be able to see how amenable customers are to choosing .CO as an alternative to .COM if the .COM of their choice is unavailable.

This price change will also allow GoDaddy to see how price sensitive its customers are when it comes to .CO domain names.

With the company spending millions of dollars on a .CO Super Bowl commercial, it’s a very smart idea to do user testing prior to the game to ensure a smooth experience and help eliminate confusion and an influx of customer service calls.

Thanks to  Giuseppe Biundo for the tip.

Report Suspicious Go Daddy Phishing Emails

Elliot Silver
-
9

GodaddyLike every other domain registrar, Go Daddy is required to send domain name owners an annual email for each domain registration per ICANN regulations. These emails ensure that the registrant’s Whois information is accurate. GoDaddy also sends customers emails for renewals and account updates.

Some nefarious individuals take advantage of this, and they spoof Go Daddy’s emails, in the hopes that a domain registrant will click one of the fraudulent links and type in their GoDaddy account and password, giving account access away to the thief. This is one way domain names are stolen from Go Daddy accounts and from other domain name registrars.

I’ve received phishing emails like this in the past, and I generally delete them without clicking on the link to avoid giving any information to these thieves and to avoid landing on a website laden with malware. Although hitting the delete button (and/or reporting the email as phishing with your email provider)  is probably the safest way to dispose of an email like this, recipients can do something that will be more helpful to GoDaddy and other customers.

If you receive what you suspect is a fraudulent email from Go Daddy, you should file an abuse report with the company. They will ask for a variety of information from the email you received. This will help the company track down the thieves and become aware of the attempt. This can also help Go Daddy get the website shut down to prevent others from falling prey to this scam.

Domain owners should know that this doesn’t only happen at Go Daddy, as other registrar accounts are also targets. If you receive a phishing or malware email that purports to be from GoDaddy, you should report it to the company.

Pre-Register for Sedo’s Premium .CO Auction

Elliot Silver
-
81

I think Go Daddy’s Super Bowl commercial is going to be big for .CO domain names. It’s still speculation at this point, but I imagine it will inform a massive amount of American consumers about what .CO is, and it could help increase the value of .CO domain names.

In addition, the .CO Registry has begun a major campaign for .CO on a wide variety of websites. In addition to a continuing Adwords campaign, consumers will see .CO banners on many websites, including this one. All of this should be good for domain investors who own .CO domain investments.

I just learned that  Sedo will be having its first official auction for .CO premium generic/descriptive domains coming up February 10th – 17th, following the much Go Daddy .CO Super Bowl commercial. There are some of the best available .CO domain names for sale in this auction. All  prospective bidders much pre-register for the auction online at Sedo in order to be eligible to bid.

Some of the .CO domain names that will be up for auction include:

  • LasVegas.CO
  • Antiques.CO
  • Luggage.CO
  • Finance.CO
  • Pizza.CO
  • Shoes.CO
  • Pawn.CO
  • Plants.CO
  • Recipes.CO
  • Gas.CO
  • Oil.CO
  • Shop.CO
  • Art.CO
  • Health.CO
  • Money.CO
  • …. Many other top names

You can see the full list of domain names for sale by visiting the Sedo live auction website. In my opinion, this is a huge auction and the results will be  indicative  of the state of the .CO aftermarket.

Don’t forget – you need to preregister to bid.

Verizon iPhone Domain Name Suffers Same Fate as WikiLeaks.com at Go Daddy

Elliot Silver
-
6

Page Not Available

As news spreads of a presumed iPhone announcement from Verizon Wireless tomorrow, commentators have been discussing some related domain names that are now owned by Verizon. For instance, iPhoneForVerizon.com now appears to be owned by Verizon. The company  fiercely  defends it’s trademarks, so this is no surprise to me.

Perhaps the best iPhone / Verizon domain name would be VerizoniPhone.com, which does not appear to be owned by either Apple or Verizon Wireless. Instead, it appears to be registered to a California resident and registered with Go Daddy.

According to a historical snapshot available on DomainTools, the domain name appears to have previously had a standard Godaddy landing page, which generally contains pay per click links.

However, the landing page seems to have suffered the same fate as that of the WikiLeaks.com domain name. Instead of a PPC-filed lander, there is a graphic that says, “Sorry! This site is not currently available.” I don’t know if there is a way to tell if Go Daddy intentionally isn’t monetizing it or if the customer changed the landing page, but it seems to be a smart move to avoid litigation for monetizing this domain name.

A big question I have though is if Go Daddy is responsible for removing the PPC landing page on this domain name, does it put the company at risk with other potential trademark names that are being monetized by them on their coming soon pages?

Could other trademark holders argue that if Go Daddy is willing and able to change the landing page for a name like VerizoniPhone.com, they should be doing it for all trademark names?  I have no legal expertise but think it’s interesting.

Oh… and I am very eager to hear the news… You can be sure my Blackberry will become a relic once the iPhone is available on the Verizon network.

Go Daddy Sponsors .ME College Scholarship Give Away

Elliot Silver
-
2

.ME college scholarship

I heard about something pretty cool, and I thought it might be of interest to you if you know someone in college or thinking about going to college. Go Daddy is sponsoring a $100,000 .ME college scholarship fund, and the company will be giving away 10 college scholarships.

Here’s what the Go Daddy website has to say about the newly announced Go Daddy Scholars program:

“Do you have what it takes to be a Go Daddy Scholar? We want to know how  the Internet or Internet technology (e.g., websites, blogs, forums, social media,  etc.) has helped you during the course of your studies. Have you used the  Internet to advance your athletic, artistic or intellectual pursuits? How do you  envision benefitting from it through college and beyond? Tell us in 500 words  or less and you can become one of 10 Go Daddy Scholars to receive $10,000  for your college tuition.”

The submission start date is January 10, 2011, and all submissions must be received by March 31, 2011 at 11:59 pm (PT). The winners will be announced on or around April 25, 2011.

There are a few requirements of applicants, in addition to the essay. Applicants must have a 3.0 or higher high school GPA, ACT score of 18+ or SAT score of 860+, and references from two people (not family members).

I think it’s very cool of the company to offer scholarships like this, especially given the tough economy and increasing college tuition costs. It’s also a great way to promote the .ME extension, since this will surely get some mainstream press.

1...108109110...113Page 109 of 113

Recent Posts

2021 vs 2025 – % of .coms in my Portfolio

Elliot Silver - 1
I don't closely track the percentage of domain extensions in my portfolio. I could have 75% .com or I could have 99% .com domain...

Nominations Open for 2026 ICA Awards

Elliot Silver - 0
The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) is now accepting nominations for two domain investing community awards. Domain investors may now submit their nominations for the...

Bodis Gives Performance Update After Google Parked Domain Opt-Out

Elliot Silver - 3
Bodis sent an update to customers yesterday about recent performance impacts related to pay per click parking revenue. The company attributed the decline to...

Glad This Sale Wasn’t an LTO

Elliot Silver - 0
Sometimes, the most obvious use for a particular domain name is in a manner that would either be offensive, controversial, or negative. This will...

Com Laude to Acquire MarkMonitor

Elliot Silver - 3
Com Laude has built its reputation as a leading domain name management service and registrar for large corporations. The company competes against several other...
© Important Notice: Unless explicitly stated, Top Notch Domains, LLC does not endorse any advertiser on this website. Advertisements and links may take visitors to external websites. Top Notch Domains, LLC is not responsible or liable for products, services, or content found on any other website. See the DomainInvesting.com disclaimer for additional details and information as well as this website's Terms of Use. Copyright © 2007-2025 - DomainInvesting.com | Top Notch Domains, LLC