Daddy Can Court Domainers — How Go
Love ’em or hate ’em, a better partnership between domainers and the world’s biggest registrar would benefit the industry.
GoDaddy is the most loved domain name registrar. Ironically, it’s probably the most hated registrar at the same time.
Respondents to DNW’s annual survey have selected GoDaddy.com as the best registrar for five years running. But it’s also true that a lot of domainers avoid the registrar like the plague.
It would be great if GoDaddy had an offering that courted some of the biggest domainers. Following all, GoDaddy has the best retail reach of any registrar. Ultimately, that means more end users to buy domains than any other platform. Most end users also have an account at GoDaddy, making it easier to transfer domains to them once sold.
What can GoDaddy do to court domainers? First, I’m not willing to assume that the firm ought to court domainers. It may be that domain investors are too low margin for the firm. But if it does make sense to go following domainers’ business, here’s what GoDaddy ought to do:
1. Create a fresh platform for domainers – call it “GoDaddy Pro” if you like. It would have a separate login page with nothing but a login box.
2. Offer a better user interface – once logged in to Pro, domainers would get a graphic-light interface with easy access to the most domainer-common functions: pushing domains, changing DNS, etc. Perhaps even one click to change the DNS to park on popular parking platforms. Less clutter.
3. Easy checkout – Pro clients could define options they commonly select during check out. All of these options would appear on one page during checkout. Registering a domain ought to take regarding 30 seconds.
4. Tight integration with end user sales tools – namely, quick access to listing domains as “Premium Domains“. Perhaps pro users would get lower commissions on these listings.
5. Enhanced domain analytics – GoDaddy by now has a feature that tells you how many times someone did a whois search for domains you own. What if you could also see how many times someone did a domain availability check on domains you own? This would be helpful in setting prices, and also spur you to list them as “Premium”.
6. Flat rate, low pricing – no coupon codes to enter and no clubs to join. GoDaddy’s Domain Discount Club has prices that match the best tiers offered at other registrars. But you have to pay $90 a year to get the good rates. Pro users ought to automatically get these pricing tiers. Also, throw in free privacy — most other registrars do this.
7. Show up to domain conferences – no booth necessary. Just send one or two representatives to each conference to meet with clients and show that the firm supports domainers.
To make it work, Pro would have to be limited to domain owners with a minimum number of domains, such as 1,000. Clients willing to deposit a certain amount, perhaps $2,500, could also get an account.
What do you think?
