GoDaddy: Update Your Passwords

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Today is World Password Day. I received several emails announcing this, including emails from GoDaddy encouraging me to update my GoDaddy account password:

Obviously having a secure password is the first line of defense when it comes to domain registrar account security. I think it is also quite important to have two factor authentication enabled at domain registrars that offer it. I would almost suggest looking elsewhere if a registrar doesn’t offer a two factor authentication option. Some use Google Authenticator, some use a keyfob, and others use a text message 2FA.

GoDaddy (and some other companies) also offer a

McHale Performance Upgrades to McHale.com via GoDaddy Auctions

GoDaddy Auctions, NameJet, and DropCatch.com are domain name expiry auction platforms that primarily cater to domain investors. These platforms are all open to the public, but I would imagine the vast majority of participants are investors seeking to buy domain names at wholesale prices.

When a domain name expires, most domain registrars place an expiry notice on the top of the landing page to inform visitors of the expired status. The notices typically contain a link to the auction for the domain name should it not be renewed by the registrant in time. These notices can be helpful to companies who may wish to purchase a domain name at auction once it goes through the expiry cycle.

Josh Schoen recently noticed an end user company bought a domain name via GoDaddy Auctions. Via Twitter, Josh mentioned that a company called McHale Performance bought McHale.com at auction for $10,000 (confirmed via NameBio) in early April:

Prior to winning the auction, the company had been using McHale.org and McHalePerformance.com. Both of these are fine domain names and probably served the company well, but

F.org Sold by NameFind

It looks like the F.org domain name has been sold by NameFind, the domain portfolio company owned by GoDaddy. I noticed the domain name changed registrants in my daily email from DomainTools. The new registrant of F.org is a company called Fincubator VC, a venture capital firm that invests in FinTech companies.

The website for F.org has already been launched and it is home to an entity called FinTech Labs. There seem to be multiple companies with a similar name to that, so having the F.org domain name should help them stand out.

In January of 2017, Jamie Zoch reported that GoDaddy sold

GoDaddy Hiring a Domain Team Product Marketing Manager

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GoDaddy is looking to hire a Product Marketing Manager on its Domains team. I believe this particular line of business covers everything related to domain names, including registrations and the aftermarket.

Here’s a brief job description from the LinkedIn listing, which was created a little over a week ago:

GoDaddy Adds “Estimated Monthly Revenue” to Auction Pages

If you are a regular bidder on GoDaddy Auctions, you likely noticed a new design on individual domain auction landing pages. On each page, GoDaddy shares a variety of data about each domain name, including the following attributes:

  • Age
  • Type of auction
  • Auction page visits
  • Appraised value
  • Parking statistics

When a GoDaddy-registered domain name expires, the company takes down whatever website existed and puts up an expiry notification landing page. The purpose is to notify the owner that the domain name expired and to let visitors know the domain name is coming up for auction. The company also monetizes landing pages with pay per click (PPC) links.

Of note, the company is now sharing “estimated monthly pageviews” and “estimated monthly revenue” for each expiry auction domain name. Paul Nicks, VP of the Aftermarket at GoDaddy told me the estimated monthly revenue takes into consideration the PPC revenue earned from parking in the 20 or so days the company has control of the domain name and that figure estimates out 30 days.

One of the domain names coming up for auction on GoDaddy is nairobisiri.com. You can have a look at the actual domain name landing page, which I don’t recall seeing before:

GoDaddy CEO Scott Wagner Talks Data Privacy on CNBC

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GoDaddy CEO Scott Wagner (since January 1, 2018) made an appearance on CNBC yesterday to discuss data privacy. Most importantly, he spoke about what GoDaddy is doing to protect its client data. In the interview, Scott also spoke about GoDaddy’s recent partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which was announced earlier this week and covered by TechCrunch.

One interesting tidbit is that Scott made it clear that this is a partnership between GoDaddy and Amazon rather than a vendor relationship. I am curious to see how Amazon will feature GoDaddy products within its own ecosystem.

The video interview is embedded below: