GoDaddy

Godaddy is most popular for it's domain registration but it's website hosting and design capabilities have come a long way and I can honestly recommend their hosting to anyone. It's fast, secure and uses Cpanel which makes your back-end access very easy to use, integrate and update as it syncs easily with FTP programs and includes script wizards such as Fantastico or Softaculous which will install freely available software such as Wordpress and many others for you automatically. I've purchased hundreds of domains through Godaddy for my own projects and for my clients as well. Godaddy is great for web design agencies because you can order a domain on behalf of your client in your own account and make them the owner, while you remain the technical admin. This has helped me close sales which may have otherwise fallen through because the prospect doesn't know how to create online accounts or purchase domains so I can do this for them and assure them honestly that they will remain the owner. If you do a Google search for '0.99 godaddy domains' you can often find an Adwords link to this promo to use for a new .com. But there are a lot of other sources for viable promos codes as well. I recall purchasing over twenty .com domains within a few days a couple of years ago, and most I paid one dollar for the first year. A few were $1.99, $2.99 or $4.99 but it was still amazing value overall. I've also used their Cpanel hosting both for my projects and for client projects. One of my clients had used the web designer available in Godaddy to build out their site and then contacted me to build a more professional version which I did using Wordpress offline and then uploaded it to their Cpanel hosting via Godaddy. The customer support of Godaddy is great. I've had complex issues to deal with in the past regarding DNS issues and even coding issue which I've received help on. One Godaddy agent worked with my employee at the time I recall on a technical issue for almost four hours until it was resolved. Both myself and the client were incredibly surprised and grateful for this level of support.

Godaddy doesn't have the bulk domain search available for free any longer. The search function they have though is still useful as it brings back all of the possible domains for any particular brand or keyword you search for as there are now so many more available than in the past when .info, .org, .com and .net were the only primary domains to consider. Now you can get .directory, .media, .io, .co and hundreds more which is cool though the costs range greatly from domain to domain. The website designer available in your account is easy to use with an okay amount of functionality but it is greatly limited when compared to other content management systems such as Wordpress or Joomla. The pre-made templates are okay in a pinch but most people would be able to tell your website is not designed by a professional because they look very generic without a lot of customization possible. For example, the image and text formatting isn't always as professional as you may like it to be particularly if you have a vision for your website and are particular about this. When you make a purchase on Godaddy they try their best to upsell you additional products and services. While it may be useful if you don't know otherwise, or are simply tempted in the moment without doing your research it can be easy to spend more than is necessary.

Overall, Godaddy is a great company for the 24/7 free phone support alone. While the prices for new .com's are usually the cheapest too. And with their hosting now excellent with full Cpanel capabilities you can install your own website without having to use their designer which is great. I highly recommend Godaddy though don't be tempted to purchase their upsells unless you've done your homework and know you'll use it.