Your Website Works while you play! Start with a $1.99 .Com Domain from GoDaddy!
Website: www.godaddy.com

Category: Registrar/Hosting Provider

Rating: Recommended

Price: Domains from $2.99, Hosting from $3.49/month

GoDaddy is an undisputed leader in domain registration, hosting, and out-of-the box website builders/content management systems. They have a long history of being a top-tier provider at affordable rates, and are a good option for several of their products and services.

GoDaddy Domain Registration Review

GoDaddy is my default registrar whenever I’m going to start a new site. While Namecheap also provides a strong service, I find that GoDaddy’s domains are usually slightly less expensive than their competition when it comes to “secondary” competition domains, such as .net, .info, or .biz domains, while Namecheap is slightly better for .com or .org domains.

However, the difference between the two is slight, and to me it’s more important to keep all of my domains managed in one central system. GoDaddy makes it easy to login and adjust domain settings (like DNS pointers, A or CNAME attributes, etc), so my use centers on those features.

If you’re going to buy a domain from GoDaddy, I recommend locking in the name for several years, otherwise you risk paying higher fees annually to renew the domain. That $2.99 .com domain sale quickly becomes $17.99 for every year afterwards. Unfortunately, this is par for the course from registrars.

GoDaddy Hosting Review

I have used GoDaddy hosting in the past, but it isn’t my favorite solution. I prefer sites like Dreamhost or Hostgator for most of my services, because I think of GoDaddy as a registrar, and prefer to have a dedicated hosting provider with more options.

One reason for this is that GoDaddy’s hosting system is not user friendly. While I’ve never had a problem with the service itself, it isn’t any easier to setup a new domain registered through them with their own hosting, and you have the same hassles as registering it with any other company.

The best feature of the GoDaddy hosting is it’s affordability and – barring additional coupons or sales/promotions – it can often be slightly ($1 per month) cheaper than the other alternatives.

GoDaddy Website Builder Review

In addition to the straightforward registrar services, GoDaddy’s Website Builder is the best service they have. The program is an out-of-the-box content management system that lets you get a new website up and running easily.

This service is great for anyone who needs a simple, straightforward site without needing to connect to an external blog management or CMS provider. Incorporating the website builder into the registrar has two distinct advantages:

  1. Bundling the domain registration, hosting, and CMS into one provider is cheaper than using separate services.
  2. Using all three services together makes the entire setup process easy and automatic.

The website builder is geared towards relatively static, page-based sites. For an extended blog, however, you’re probably better off using a dedicated blog management system, like WordPress, in which case Dreamhost, Hostgator, and Bluehost all provider better and easier options than GoDaddy.


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Conclusion

GoDaddy is, first and foremost, a domain registrar. All other services are secondary. Use it to buy your domains, not host your blog.