Tara Commerford, Vice President and Managing Director, GoDaddy ANZ with Ray Meagher and a bottle of his signature scent, ‘Raygrance’.
In today’s blog post, the second in our Registrar Profile series, we focus on leading registrar, GoDaddy Australia. We chat with Tracy Hall, Marketing Director at GoDaddy ANZ about their customer focused approach and how they are working to encourage all small businesses to get online.
How did GoDaddy come about in Australia? Who founded it and why?
GoDaddy officially launched in Australia in July 2015 with a mission to help more Aussie small businesses get online. When expanding into new markets, GoDaddy considers various criteria, and Australia ticked all the boxes in terms of having strong internet penetration and a significant and growing number of small businesses.
What's more, according to our research, 59% of Australian small businesses do not have a website, despite the significant commercial impact a company website can have on a business. Latest figures from our research also shows that having a website for your venture can contribute as much as 25% to its growth. This is evidence that there is still a huge amount of work to be done and creates a prime opportunity for GoDaddy to educate small business owners and entrepreneurs on the value an online presence can deliver to their business.
GoDaddy information session, 'The How (And Why) Behind Starting a Side Hustle’.
What does the average GoDaddy client look like?
Our customers are people who want to get their venture online – whether that be with registering a domain name, building a website, communicating with professional email and social media, or using online productivity tools. Our customers are a mix of entrepreneurs, small business owners, start-ups, and side hustlers. We appreciate having a diverse range of customers with a varied list of goals, motivations and objectives, but the one thing that remains constant is that they are all pursuing success for their venture. It is GoDaddy’s commitment to help empower them to get there.
What sets GoDaddy apart from competitors?
We believe a key competitive differentiator of GoDaddy is our integrated suite of products and services which makes it easy for customers to create and manage their online presence as they grow their venture. In addition, GoDaddy provides a high-touch approach to customer care, which is industry award-winning, and allows our customers to access the support they need when they need it, and for Australians that is 24/7.
What advice would you give to small business owners wanting to register their first domain name and build their first website?
There are several things that can be useful to take into consideration when registering your first domain name and building your first website.
When choosing a domain name for your online presence, a general rule of thumb is to make it short and easy to type, and describes your business or idea. Remember that you may want to use this name for your email, social media channels, and other online uses for a more professional and consistent display of your business. Use keywords that describe your venture and the products and services you offer, and you might want to consider including your city or state in your domain name to help make it easy for local customers to find and remember you, such as: 'byronbayglassrepair.com.au'.
Creating an engaging and professional looking website from the start can be key to having people visit and taking action on your website. Choose content, images, fonts and colours that highlight your product and services, promote your brand and share the uniqueness of your business. Website Builder tools can help you create a website with templates to start, and then as you become more comfortable with your website you can update and expand the experience.
So, there have it - some excellent tips for setting up your domain name and website from an industry expert. Thanks for sharing Tracy!
For more information on the set up of your website check out our web hosting and website builder blog posts.
Want to know if your preferred domain name is available and where you can register it? Check here.