[NEohioPAL] Opinions/experiences with Godaddy.com websites wanted

[Aaron Mucciolo]

Hi all.  I'll pull the professional web designer card here and say I never
recommend GoDaddy - I advise all my clients to use, and I myself use,
1and1.com.  There are a couple of other good services out there which I have
not fully explored, but the short of it is GoDaddy has more hidden costs -
including costs to your time - than is immediately obvious, and for the
basic package 99.9% of websites need, 1and1 is the cheapest and most
reliable (I have a whole walkthru/explainer on my site... with pictures! -
http://spunsimply.com/hosting).

GoDaddy is, essentially, the used-car salesmen of internet hosting.
Apologies in advance to anyone who is currently using their services - I
don't mean to make it sound like you're getting horribly ripped off; chances
are you are overpaying to the tune of a few dollars here or there.  Case in
point - GoDaddy proudly touts how you can add private domain registration
for only a few dollars, and talks about how they were one of the first to
offer this great service.  1and1, and other services I believe, have offered
private registration for free for years.  GoDaddy also offers all sorts of
confusing add ons and upgrades, with various combination discounts, to their
basic package which often leads to clients buying something for a few
dollars more per month thinking they need it in order to get additional
email accounts, or secure hosting or or or... When you check out from buying
pretty much anything (an $8 domain name to add to your existing package,
even) you are presented with many 'wait!  would you also like to add....'
offers.

I've also found GoDaddy's help pages to be severely lacking, and their new
account management interface to be cumbersome.  They also have various
traps, intentional or not, that restrict your ability to move the products
or services you've bought from them - I won't go into all the technical and
bureaucratic details; feel free to contact me with additional questions.
GoDaddy does have a handy 24/7 help hotline with real people on the end -
but again, so do several other services (including 1and1) and really, is it
better to use a company that provides great support, or one that provides
great value and little need to CALL support in the first place?

For me, even before finding and settling on 1and1, the question of which
company to use for web hosting and domain registration always came down to
two things - package price, and ease of use.  Costs for the former have
dropped significantly over the years to the point that the range from the
lowest to the middle you might pay per month is maybe $5 (there are
unreasonably expensive sites, still - stay away from register.com).  That is
$60 a year, though, and - on the second point, ease of use - I don't think
any company offers such a superior product to even be worth that much.
Therefore I continue to say: don't be swayed by the massive media blitz
(1and1 pretty much just advertises online and in trade and semi-trade
publications, which is why you may never have heard of them); go with the
lowest cost and fewest headaches for what you need... and that isn't
GoDaddy.

Best,

Aaron
aaron at spunsimply.com
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