The Evolution of Go Daddy (in pictures)

Go Daddy, the Scottsdale, Arizona based company, is by far the world's most popular domain name registrar dominating all other ICANN-accredited registrars due to competitive pricing and shrewd and sometime controversial publicity methods. 

Go Daddy was originally named Jomax Technologies, and it wasn't until late 1999 that it became an ICANN-accredited registrar.  The first domain registered by a customer at Go Daddy was GhettoJustice.com. 

I thought it would be cool to chronicle the evolution of the Go Daddy main web page from 1999-2008 to see how Go Daddy changed their marketing campaigns with the growing popularity of domaining.  All picture and date information provided courtesy of Archive.org.

Enjoy the pictorial timeline!

November 27, 1999

This is the first and original website design.  Go Daddy did not sell domain names yet so the website only offered web site development services and hosting.  For $89, you could purchase the WebSite Complete 2.5 Deluxe Edition.  

May 10, 2000

This was the first major design change for the main web page.  The emphasis was creating  your own website with no experience required.  A Real Estate Edition of their services was introduced.  Notice the lack of sexy girls integrated into the design. 

May 7, 2001

Hey, now we have some color!  A one-year .com registration was $8.95 and a 10-year was only $6.95/yr.  Crazy cheap back then!

November 27, 2001

The domain extensions .biz and .info are introduced and private email accounts cost $11. The design looks scattered and odd.  Get ready for a storm of links and buttons.

June 2, 2002

Another confusing and complicated design with a plethora of links.  It's funny how fully-dressed the female on the front page is.  Don't worry, this will change soon. 

February 7, 2003

It's been 4 years since the original website design and private registrations are going for $9 with Go Daddy offering Federal Copyright Protection for $59.95. Starting to look more and more cluttered.

December 31, 2003

There's a sale for $7.95 .com registrations instead of the regular $8.95 price.  Awards show Registrar of the Year for 2002 and 2003.  

July 1, 2004

Major design change with emphasis on the free extras you get with each new domain registration.  Hosting is now only $3.95  and Traffic Blazer is $29.95/yr. 

  

December 31, 2004

The new look of this Go Daddy main page is by far the best and easiest to navigate.  CEO Bob Parsons begins his blog and links it on the front page. 

 

November 23, 2005

It's 2005 and customers wanting to purchase Domain Privacy now pay $4.95 (was $9).  Radio Go Daddy is introduced.

March 6, 2006

Price drop on private domain registrations to $1.99.  50GB hosting is now only $6.95.  Lots of tabs, links and buttons. 

December 30, 2006

Go Daddy girl, Danica Patrick, makes and appearance and after almost 7 years, Go Daddy begins to show signs of sticking to this template design.  The Domain Name Aftermarket Auctions are integrated into the front page to drive traffic to them. 

Today 2008

And this is where we are today. This screen shot was taken on March 28,2008. Go Daddy has come a long way since their original first design in 1999. Their prices have consistently dropped and more and more services were added on a regular basis. Seems Go Daddy has also taken a liking to featuring some sort of female on their front page and inundating website visitors with a ton of links and buttons. I personally like the web design of 2004 since it seems far less complicated and cluttered. Either way, Go Daddy has shown that they have their finger on the pulse of the domain industry by frequently altering and changing their website to accommodate the changing of the domain industry. I wonder what Bob Parsons has up his sleeve for their next website design concept. We'll just have to wait and see.

Happy Domaining.

-Rudy

GoDaddy Promo Code Not Required

Want to know how to save $2 to $3 off Go Daddy instantly without any coupons or promotion codes... every time?

Check out this quick short video courtesy of JackBorn.com explaining a couple of tips that anyone registering a domain  name at Go Daddy should be aware of .  Watch the video. Save a few bucks.

New Go Daddy Girl: Elliot Spitzer's Escort?

Everyone knows that Go Daddy's CEO Bob Parsons sure loves controversy.

Is it any surprise that Elliot Spitzer's hooker/escort is a potential new Go Daddy girl?

Check out the video blog here and find out.

Japanese Ads Downplay URLs, Encourage Searches

There seems to be a new advertising trend emerging in Japan that domainers need to be aware of. Marketing companies of some major corporations are beginning to encourage potential customers to "search" for their company name and products instead of directing them to type in a specific URL website name. Is SEO ultimately going to trump direct web navigation?

A recent post at Boing Boing highlights how a recent visitor to Japan noticed obvious advertising using recommended search terms instead of the traditional direct URL promotions. AOL has been using this method with their highly-publicized "Search Keyword: ABC" campaign.

I have a few personal thoughts on this. At first glance, I seemed to understand that with the lack of "good" domain names available for companies, relying on keyword SEO was not only probably smart, but pretty much inevitable as a marketing campaign to compete with those generic domain names. But after some consideration, I started to realize that if a company decides to spend tons of money to advertise a specific search term as their primary method of attracting website visitors, the always changing search engine algorithms and blackhat SEO methods could possible skew the search results, letting other sites relevant to the advertised search term to pop up first and benefit from the intended traffic. The company would basically be advertising for another company. Bad business indeed.

Keep your eyes open on how this could effect longer keyword phrase domain registrations and such.

Selling Domain Names on Ebay = Risk

Yesterday, I had some time to spare so I decided to check out the domain name auctions going on over at Ebay. I must admit, it has been some time since I last checked out that marketplace since I vowed awhile back not to sell/buy any domains there due to escalating scams and such.

While searching, I noticed a few things that haven't changed since the last time I visited Ebay:

1. Crappy domains with one good keyword selling for upwards of $15 million dollars.

2. Few decent domains with a "buy it now" price upwards of $5 million dollars.

3. And a plethora of typo/hacks promising "high-traffic and clicks".

4. All of the above had no bids.

Believe me when I say I literally sat there in front of my Mac screen and laughed.

Is the Ebay marketplace dead for domain names?

Is anyone actually buying these "premium" domains for those obscene amounts of money?

Is www.forsalebyownerok.com actually worth the $21,000,000 (that's million!) asking price?

The answer is "no" to all 3 questions.

The Ebay domain marketplace is not dead, no one is buying those crazy priced domains and there wasn't one domain currently in auction even remotely close to being valued anywhere near $21 million.

The reason I say the Ebay domain marketplace is not dead is because there about 4000 active domain auctions in progress. Other than that, it's dead to me. But just because it isn't dead doesn't mean it isn't risky.

Over at Dot Com Domain Names, Craig recently posted an article about not being able to reap the true value of a domain name during a 10-day Ebay auction because you simply don’t get enough traffic from the right buyer during such a confined period of time. I tend to agree.

Other than a few LLLL.com's, most domain auctions have zero bids and ridiculous asking prices. The few LLLL.com's that are being sold are selling for a little less than what they would probably get over at a domaining forum or Sedo. So why are people still selling their premium domains over at Ebay. Who knows. Maybe they are feel if they can sell a used "haunted" toaster for 10K then they could sell a crappy domain for $1 million.

Either way, Ebay is not a place I suggest to sell your domain names. I see it as a place to basically pawn off your not-so-great domains to a unsuspecting chump or to undersell your great domains due to a limited customer base and timeframe.

Do yourself a favor and either list them for sale at a reputable marketplace or simply stop buying worthless domains. Both will save you time and money.

Also check out this post at Fka200 about the recent and controversial COQL.com auction that ended over at Ebay.

Stay informed.

-Rudy

Domain Tool of the Week: Nameish

Stop wasting time thinking of domain names for your project!

Ever racked your brains trying to come up with a killer name for a forum, project, business, blog or idea? Sure, we all have.

What if I told you there's a tool out there that aims to simplify that process by offering you a quick and easy way to find a suitable name that represents your idea so that you may continue on to the bigger tasks at hand? Never fear, Nameish.com is here.

Nameish was created by Jason Hines of Devtwo Creative Software.

Here's his description of this cool domainer tool:

"Nameish is an attempt to help ease the creative hurdle in finding a good brand/domain for your web application. Often when a developer has a good name for a project, they can spend quite a bit of time simply thinking of the right name for it. As we know, proper branding of your project is critical and not all of us have the resources of a marketing team at their disposal."

How Nameish works:

Nameish finds suitable names based on the following logistical steps:
-Synonyms
-Thesaurus suggestions
-Web 2.0" naming suggestions, such as Flickr and del.icio.us
(From these results, you are able to quickly lookup the domain for availability.)

Another cool thing about this tools is that it shows the most recent searches queried by other domainers to help spark even more ideas for you. More features are set to come.

See more at Nameish.com.

And don't forget to subscribe to be informed of the latest domainer tools as they unfold onto the domain scene. Austin baby stores

Enjoy!

-Rudy

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GoDaddy won't register domain names with 'godaddy' in them

Something may be up over at Go Daddy.

There's a forum post floating around the anti-Go Daddy site, No Dadddy, that explains any domainer trying to register a domain name with "godaddy" in it will get a message that says "unavailable" -- even if it has offensive or gibberish words in it.

I tried it out and confirmed the same thing.  

After trying to register TestGodaddyTest.com, I received the "unavailable" error. Then headed on over to a couple of other registrars and it was available to be registered.  

We'll keep our eyes open and see what plays out. 

Check back.

-Rudy

Domain Tool of the Week: Impulse Domain Lookup Tool

This Domain Tool of the Week has simply blown me away.

Courtesy of The Mad Hat, the domain industry will flip over this Firefox extension that makes it super easy to lookup domain names. The extension lets you perform one click domain searches at your registrar of choice using the selected text in your browser window. Let me repeat that...the extension lets you perform one click domain searches at your registrar of choice using the selected text in your browser window.

It's named the Impulse Domain Lookup Tool and it's freaking sweet.

1. Highlight the text you want to look up.

2. Right-click and select "domain lookup"

The extension will normalize the text, removing spaces and other illegal characters etc, then launch a new tab/window to search for the domain at your favourite registrar.

3. Choose registrar and search. That's it.

Excerpt from The Mad Hat:

"I’ve been beta testing a Domain Lookup Firefox extension from Richard Kershaw at Quality Nonsense. I renamed it the “Impulse Domain Lookup Tool”. Say you’re reading a story in the CNN technology section on wireless earphones and decide you want to check real quick to see if wirelessearbuds.com is available. All it takes is a right click or keyboard shortcut to open a new window and query the registrar of your choice."

Visit the Impulse Domain Lookup Tool.

Stay informed of other new domaining tools by subscribing here.

(video) Keith Olbermann Weighs In on Republican Committee Cybersquatting

Here's a full list of domains registered by the Republican National Committee:

2007
calculatingclinton.com
canttrustclinton.com
clintonbabbit.com
clintoncleland.com
clintoncohen.com
clintonisbad.com
clintoniscorrupt.com
clintoniswrong.com
clintonkerrey.com
clintonlibrarycard.com
clintonlibraryresolution.com
clintonomalley.com
clintonsalazar.com
clintonschweitzer.com
clintontruthwatch.com
hillaryiswrong.com
hillarymythfact.com
hillaryrecords.com
hillaryspendometer.com
hillarytaxplan.com
hillarytruthsquad.com
hopelesshillary.com
outwithhillary.com
thetwohillarys.com

2008
amateurobama.com
barackisliberal.com
barackiswrong.com
baracknotready.com
barackobamanotready.com
barackobamatheliberal.com
baracktheamateur.com
barackthebeginner.com
fauxbama.org
hesnotready.com
meetbarackobama.com
norealexperience.com
nowecannot.com
nowecannot.net
nowecannot.org
obamaisliberal.com
obamaiswrong.com
obamanotready.com
obamaspendometer.com
obamatheamateur.com
obamathebeginner.com
yeswecandowhat.com
yeswecanwhat.com

Rupert Murdoch Outfoxed Over Domain Name Dispute

Found this on Wired about an hour ago.

The World Intellectual Property Organization is concluding that a Florida businessman is the rightful owner to foxbusinessnetwork.com. Still, WIPO said it was "suspicious" that the name was registered the same day the Rupert Murdoch-owned network announced February 2007 it was launching a business news channel.

The decision certifies that Worldwide Directory Services of Sebring, Florida, is the rightful owner of the disputed domain name. Derek Hodges, Worldwide's president, goes by the nickname "British Fox." Hodges had used the term staar test study guides Fox Business Network for legitimate offerings of services, including a domain name registration business and free business web page offerings, WIPO concluded

Read the entire transcript here.

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No Better Time To Be A Domainer

With all the doom and gloom being talked about the domain industry over the past few months I thought it would be nice to throw some positive light on today's overall domain marketplace situation.

The negativity about the upcoming Snowe Bill, the drama over the resurfacing of an infamous domain appraisal scam, and the talk about the IRS domainer tax confusion definitely has some domainers doubting the future of domain name investing and the well-being of the entire industry. While I understand that all three may have drastic and negative implications on domaining, I can't help but still feel that there is no better time to be a domainer.

Our marketplace is still thriving.
Media and public awareness of the domain industry is still rising.
And companies and corporations around the entire globe are beginning to fully understand that a good domain name is a major integral factor in their overall business plan.

Domaining is big business. And it's here to stay.

Below are some articles/posts/opinions that I've read over the past week that indicate that today's domainers still should feel confident in their investments and understand that even though things seem bumpy right now, smoother sailing is still ahead.

Have a great weekend!

New York Times
"Coins In The New Realm"

Ecommerce Times
Getting Ahead in Domain Name Trading

Domaining.org.uk
LLLL.net domains - welcome to the next internet goldrush

American Nonsense
Switching to Domain Name Investing

Go Daddy
GO DADDY IS A TRAILBLAZER IN SAFEGUARDING CUSTOMER DATA

Talk Price
The Secret: Dropped Domains

DomainBits
WHAT EVERYONE OUGHT TO KNOW ABOUT GEO DOMAINS

Learn N Earn
Big Bucks from Domains

The Conceptualist

Making Domains Your Business

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Mix.com - The Worst Usage of a Good Domain Name Ever

Found this humorous article over at Mashable about how the owner of the domain name: Mix.com is not using this short, premium, generic and brandable domain name even remotely close to it's fullest potential.

(sample excerpt)
"The site has a photo of a girl in a bunny costume, holding a tray, with two fire extinguishers in the background. A Daffy Duck effigy, hung on a Christmas tree. A badge that says “We support the Writers Guild of America.” Two links to some CDs on Barnes and Noble, and a very short explanation of “How To Unlock A Password Protected Panavision HDW-F900 Camera."

I can see how this may drive some domainers crazy seeing such a great domain name used in such a nonsensical way. Who knows, maybe they will receive some offers after people hear about this? streampix app

Read the article here.
Enjoy.

Domain Backwording: The Journey Continues

Since my first post on a new emerging domain trend called Backwording, I have, with help from other intrigued domainers, uncovered a little more interesting information, facts and tidbits about this topic. The last 5 days have been very exciting. Here's what we've found:

Things we've found out since the last post:

-- In early 2001, an Israeli firm named LocallyNet, made obscure headlines with it's idea of using a text-conversion algorithm in Internet browsers to allow typed-in entries to be read backwards by the browser. Seems the main motivator was that the CEO of LocallyNet saw the rapidly dwindling supply of domain names available as limitations to a growing Internet. This seems to be the origin of today's current backwording framework.

- As of today, there has not been one WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) domain name dispute case filed citing legal action against a backwards/reversed domain at fault or infringing on any UDRP policies.

- Major domain parking companies seem to often view backworded domains as regular domains and aggregate keyword advertising content as if the domain was not reversed. Examples are sthgilF.com (flights.com) and noisiveleT.com (television.com). [VERY INTERESTING]

- A huge marketplace for premium and generic backworded domains still exist, although each day a few more of our favorites are registered. Maybe people are starting to see this an an alternative method for advertising their websites?

- Google registered elgooG.com on April 7, 2000 and that domain has an Alexa ranking of 572,726. Another fun site is here.

- As expected, we were unable to find any significant sale records of any backworded domains in the past. This is mainly due to backwording still being an undiscovered niche.

- No matter how many people agree or disagree that backwording may become a permanent practice in the future, people and businesses around the world are already using backworded domains, and have been for quite some time.

- We also discovered that there is not a comprehensive list of developed domains that utilize backwording, so a project has been started and will be launched at Backwording.com. This website will be a community for domainers interested in backwording and a way for us to communicate more about the topic. Feel free to send me any backworded domains you have recently registered and developed so we can add them to our developed website directory (info@logistiklabs.com). More news will come soon. Stay posted by subscribing here.

So, as you can see, backwording is causing a small but definable ripple in the domain pool and causing other domainers to take notice. I'd like to thank everyone for their emails, comments and opinions on this emerging topic so far and look forward to uncovering more information about this interesting and hidden domain niche. The excitement is growing. Stay tuned.

-Rudy

Is 2008 The Year Of The .mobi?

- dotMOBI CEO Trey Harvin

The video, filmed by Lord Brar of DNForum and DomainingTips.com, is an encouraging interview for all domainers who have invested in the .mobi extension.  Trey Harvin, CEO of dotMobi, explains that 2008 will be a breakout year for .mobi due to a focused effort to invest in building the global awareness and mass marketing of the .mobi extension. 

Great news for the .mobi community.

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