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Web hosting giant GoDaddy used to target mostly small online businesses with minimal technical needs. But the company is now trying to cater to a group that it admits hasn’t been much interested in its services before with a new GoDaddy Pro service offering.
That group is an estimated six million Web designers and developers –many of them freelance and full-time — who, the company says, create and maintain the sites for 60 percent of small businesses. GoDaddy is targeting this market with their new service called GoDaddy Pro. The new service offers a customizable level of support services aimed at the Web development demographic.
In an official release on the company’s website, GoDaddy Senior Vice President and General Manager of Web Hosting Jeff King explains:
“Web developers and designers often manage more than one website at a time for multiple clients, therefore their needs differ from our general Web hosting customers. Web developers and designers are critical to the success of GoDaddy. We are doing everything we can to learn about how to better meet their needs as well as their client’s needs. These new products are a direct result of many conversations with our customers. We know there is a lot more work that needs to be done – this is just the beginning.”
New GoDaddy Pro Service Meets Greater Technical Demands
Because the GoDaddy Pro service offering is geared toward Web design professionals, it is naturally more technical than what GoDaddy offers its baseline customers. The Pro-level services include:
- Managed WordPress
- Web Hosting with CPanel®
- Managed Virtual Private Servers
The new plans dive into more technical tasks like automated OS patching, staging, cloning, root access, backups, disaster recovery, and other services aimed at GoDaddy’s new target customers.
In addition, there are three levels of service available: self-managed, managed, and fully managed. Each requires decreasing levels of effort on the part of the Web professional client. “Fully managed” services include, as the name implies, everything from security and monitoring to access to a dedicated support team.
Not the Only Player on the Field
GoDaddy is certainly not the first company to target Web designers and developers specifically. Brands like BlueHost, Rackspace, and HostGator have been in the game for years. But it seems GoDaddy is attempting to position itself by offering what it claims are a wider range of services than its competitors, as well as faster speeds for Web hosting.
GoDaddy says it has also completely overhauled its customer support program with the help of Media Temple, a Web hosting company it acquired last year.
The overhaul includes training customer service reps with the latest tools and technology in order to provide support to clients with more advanced technical needs. The training includes a new certification program GoDaddy says its customer service reps must go through to understand the new products inside and out before they assist customers.
In terms of price, GoDaddy is at the bottom of the market. For example, its WordPress hosting services are just $19.99 a month, compared with WP Engine Professional’s monthly fee of $99.99.
Tablet Photo via Shutterstock
Aira Bongco
Godaddy is slowly moving into web development. While I mostly know it as a domain provider, I think that it can also do well in that field.
Mike Johnston
But it will still be GoDaddy….