Photo credit: W. Warby http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/
Bob Parsons, CEO of GoDaddy, has made the news lately, by “ridding” the world of a problem elephant in Zimbabwe, then creating a promotional video portraying himself as a hero who helped feed the local community (elephant meat). Now we are finding out that the elephant he’s pictured with is very likely a young female. http://news.discovery.com/animals/parsons-elephant-killing-110404.html
This is not sustainable hunting, nor does really help the community. Elephants remember, grieve and retaliate against losses. This is particularly true of females, who form complex family groups.
True, Zimbabwe’s “animal management” policies may need some review, but what was Bob thinking? How could he think this would be good PR? And what does this have to do with websites?
Well, GoDaddy has long been recognized for the biker chick image and the in your face website (you can’t make a simple account update without being bombarded by sales offers). And Bob Parsons has infused the business with his own personality. While passion and personality in business are generally rewarded, I’m thinking he’s gone over the top. And I’m thinking I don’t like the GoDaddy personality. Or the Bob Parsons personality. After all, if success were the only measure of likeability, we’d all be fans of Donald Trump.
What to do? Well, the thing is, I have several domain names registered at GoDaddy, and so do most of my clients. Their customer service is second to none and, while the website is annoying, it gets the job done. And, domain registrars have a way of making it difficult to change. That’s why, in the past, I’ve advised clients against having their domain registered with their web host. Because if you want to part ways with your web host, you can move your website, but it may be more difficult to change your domain name registrar. At least, that was my thinking, and it proved true in a couple instances, when clients had fly-by-night web hosts or web hosts that help you construct (and then own) your website.
But that was then. I’m re-thinking. Bluehost has been good to me. As a reputable web host, I have no reason to think they’d make it difficult for me if I need to make a change in the future. So, I plan to try moving my domain names, and see how it goes. I’ll report back on how this is handled by both GoDaddy and Bluehost.
Oh and… I will NOT be recommending NoDaddy to my new clients!