Be Open to Trying New Things

When it comes to the online world, we at Site.pro know that there is always something new to learn. That’s why for a few years now, we’ve been combing the globe to meet with talented professionals operating in the field of website hosting and building, to learn from their experience as part of our “Shared Hosting Tips” series. Over those years, we’ve accumulated a unique base of interviews with talented, dedicated visionaries from all over the world that we think would be beneficial for businesses venturing into the online world. Today, we are shedding light on some critical website hosting tips for companies based in the USA alongside the great Arnold Blinn. Up until recently, Arnold was the chief product architect at GoDaddy and knows a thing or two about website hosting. He sat down with us and shared his experience with website hosting in the USA. Read on and with the interview to learn about hosting your website, ensuring a smooth payment process, localizing it, and more.

Localization is much more than translation

Very often, localization of the website is thought of as only the process of optimization, but it’s much more than that. This is an important point for international companies working in several markets. Blinn brings an example of GoDaddy templates: a restaurant website template in the US shows a photo of American food, while in Germany the same template shows photos of German food. Products require customization to fit the market they are entering to be successful, and localization is one way to do that. It takes time and effort, and you need local experts who understand the local culture, what would work and what wouldn’t, to manage the localization process effectively.

Phone support is important

Providing superior customer support is becoming increasingly important in business. Arnold Blinn and the GoDaddy team know this, but they go as far as providing support to customers in their language, to make the process even easier. In the US, the customer support team keeps in touch with the customers in English and Spanish, while in other countries, local support is available to ensure the best possible experience with the company. This is made possible, of course, through the dedication of financial and human resources: 5,500 of the company's 7,500 employees are working at call centers and as online support around the world to ensure customer satisfaction at the highest levels, and in some ways has defined how GoDaddy does business.

Every market is different and competition varies

When it comes to how markets operate, it’s difficult to say if one market is “harder” than another. Rather, they are different, each with their peculiarities, and this was also the case for GoDaddy. It also largely depends on how established a company is in a market. Being a household name for hosting in the US, GoDaddy has a more mature customer lifecycle, and people are more willing to join the company, while when launching in new countries, building market share will be more time-consuming. Competition in the hosting industry varies greatly from market to market as well. While there are a few large and well-recognized players, Blinn and the GoDaddy team have noticed that in many new markets they try to enter, there are usually entrenched players dominating the local hosting.

Payment gateways in different countries

When it comes to ensuring smooth payment for hosting services, it’s important not to limit your customers to one or another payment option. It’s better to have several options, as different clients have different needs, as well as varying levels of tech-savviness. As Blinn notes, in the US credit cards and PayPal are two of the most commonly used payment gateways, while bank transfers are not very common. In the case of Europe, on the other hand, bank transfers are a payment method of choice more often, and the fact that the Internet was available in the US longer plays a role.

Buying a domain is the first step

For most of the customers, the entry point to GoDaddy, which provides both hosting and website builder services, is the domain. Once they have the domain, they have options to build a website, use shared hosting, a dedicated server, or more. What’s important, however, is that the hosting provider service doesn’t overburden the customer with infrastructure information, but rather provides them with a service that works and is simple. In these cases, these additional options don’t act as main features, but rather come as bespoke sales.

There’ll be failures, and it’s okay

GoDaddy is a 20+ year old company, and has had its fair share of ups and downs during that time. However, the attitude of the company, and the attitude of Arnold Blinn is that companies need to be ready to try things, and not be able to fail. Failure is an important part of being in business, but not trying anything new to avoid failure halts the innovation process.

Final thoughts

That’s a wrap! We’ve really enjoyed writing this coverage of what is an extensive and interesting interview, and hope that you found it engaging as well. While starting an online business can be stressful initially, designing your website doesn’t have to be. With the right hosting provider and website builder tools, you can get an effective and responsive for your business up and running in no time. What you need to remember is that customers want simplicity, effectiveness, and quality of an online experience, which is a very achievable task if you have the right tools at hand. Use them as a guiding force behind every decision that you make, and the results won’t have to wait. Good luck!