As more and more people are beginning to start companies on their own either to be business ambitious or just to supplement some additional income, more and more are drawn to the big sand trap that is GoDaddy.com. My common practice when taking on new clients that are on GoDaddy is to immediately move them to a new server like MediaTemple.net or an inexpensive server with full Cpanel access.
GoDaddy doesn’t really make much money on selling domains and to be honest. You can buy a domain for the same price just about anywhere, even through MediaTemple. The difference is GoDaddy’s checkout process which, if you’re not familiar with it, you will accidentally fall into the sandpit of add-ons, the dizzying amount of click through pages in order to get your domain. Domain protection, are you kidding? This is where GoDaddy makes it’s money and it’s a good marketing plan but if you’re a small business just getting started and really feel the need to get your domain, talk to someone like me first. At least talk to someone who’s dealt with the nightmare that is GD.
Aside from that it take special steps to install common things like WordPress and especially Magento. You can’t even run certain platforms on their servers, they just won’t allow it because of security risks.
So don’t be sheep and just follow the pretty girl in the commercial. Check small business and web design blogs and find a proper server and domain control system for yourself. You’ll be much happier with the result. Just because they say “free hosting” doesn’t mean it really is. Just about anyone can afford $8 a month for a proper hosting plan, if not just cut down on the Starbucks once or twice a month. It’s worth the investment.
Overall it’s not a bad service if you can make it through the purchase process without falling into the pitfalls, add-ons and extras you’re constantly bombarded with. You do have more control using other companies as far as email set-up, installable applications and site types. Depending on your needs it may be beneficial to move but for a basic site it may be best to just stay with GoDaddy. The control panel is difficult to use with GoDaddy and they’ll often charge you to add an additional email address whereas services like MediaTemle and EZWeb Hosting make it easy (and often free) to do these things.
Angela Thomas
My business currently uses Godaddy.com, and you know what business that is. Do you think it’s a wise choice for us, and is it really that important which server we use? I might bring this up to the owner, but I don’t want to unless I know a little bit more about how Godaddy.com may NOT benefit us.