Domain Name Wire is now hosted by GoDaddy.com
A couple weeks ago I changed web hosts to GoDaddy.com. Several people have asked why I decided to change hosts in the first place and why I chose GoDaddy.
Why I changed hosts
When I started Domain Name Wire I hosted it with the same host I’d been using for my other sites for 5 years. I’m not going to mention the host by name because they’ve really been pretty good to me for the better part of a decade. It’s a small company and I still host a number of sites with them.
For the most part my host grew with the site. When traffic levels increased I moved to a dedicated server. And it worked, most of the time.
But that changed over the past year. More and more often, whenever I’d get a spike in traffic my site would slow to a crawl or stop altogether. It’s painful to miss out on traffic like that.
Worse, the company didn’t offer any phone support. Its chat support was limited as well and only offered for part of the day. That’s to be expected with an inexpensive host, but remember that I was on a dedicated server.
I put off moving Domain Name Wire over the years because I knew it would be a pain. But after my most recent site outage I knew it was time to make a move.
My criteria
1. 24/7 phone support
2. Redundancy/cloud solution in case one server had a problem
3. Systems that will help load DNW quickly
3. Cost was not a concern – I’m willing to pay what it takes for peace of mind.
Decision
I was originally leaning toward WPEngine. It’s based here in Austin and has financial backing from the creators of WordPress. All they do is host WordPress sites. The monthly fee for my site would be $99, which isn’t bad. They also have a number of built in mechanisms for speeding up WordPress sites. One thing that’s missing is 24/7 phone support.
GoDaddy wasn’t on my original list. But the more I thought about it the more it made sense. They’re big and have a good infrastructure. They call their shared plans 4GH, which basically means your site is replicated across multiple servers in case one goes down. (The idea of hosting a site like this on a dedicated server doesn’t make sense any more.) They have 24/7 support. I also have a dedicated account manager for my domains. So if something goes wrong, I know I can reach someone who will help.
Honestly, the only reason I found to not go with GoDaddy was price. It’s too low. I generally wouldn’t feel comfortable trusting my site to a $10/month hosting plan.
Making the switch
I’m going to be honest: switching hosts is a big pain. There are some solutions out there that apparently make porting WordPress easier. But we’re talking about over 5,000 posts, 3,500 files (images, pdfs, etc), and lots of database tables. It’s not something to do except out of necessity.
I use WordPress’s own solution for backups, VaultPress, which made it a little be easier. Unfortunately VaultPress does not yet help you port from one host to another (they say they’re working on it), but I was able to transfer the site using a VaultPress backup.
Then there’s the nameserver switch and the time it takes that to resolve across the internet. That resulted in about 24 hours of “dead” time in which the site loaded fine but I didn’t want to post.
Results
I’m not going to pass judgment on GoDaddy hosting after just a couple weeks. But so far, so good. The site loads faster than on my previous host, and that’s without making any changes. And I know that if I do need support, it will be easy to contact someone at the company.
Kevin Murphy says
Welcome to the club, Andrew.
It’s reassuring to know that should Go Daddy suffer a catastrophic network-wide meltdown, at least one of my competitors will go down with me 😉
Poor Uncle says
My very first website I ever created was and still is with godaddy since 2008. I paid $4/month I think. It used to be extremely slow to a crawl..but I kept it there..and I notice since the beginning of the year it is flying fast. I don’t know what they did to my account (because mine is a legacy account..and according to them, it was not suppose to be able to upgrade to its latest hosting technology.)
Like you I don’t feel comfortable with the price…at $4/month…I don’t expect a whole lot of support. I remember I tried to work with them back in 2009 because I had connectivity issue…they said it was Wordpress related..and they don’t support application related issues. But somehow the issue just resolved by itself.
To be fair they were helpful. Since you are not afraid of the lack of technical support with such a popular blog…it gives me confidence that I should go with them too.
They are flying fast as far as my website is concern. I can’t say the same for Hostgator, which has never been that fast…but was a lot faster than Godaddy a couple years back. I guess Daddy is serious about hosting now.
adam says
Plus you hate elephants 😉
Larry says
“Then there
rs says
If you move again you should consider a different approach.
First you find a dedicated server company (not a managed server, just the server). They concentrate on network connectivity and hardware.
Then you get a server management company. They will install wordpress and move everything over by copying the database directly rather then using some plugin. They monitor, backup and configure 24/7.
If you have complicated Wordpress issues get a third party that just does Wordpress stuff.
With Godaddy I lie awake at nights if they have one of my domains locked for 60 days.
Xcobar says
I did my research last week, and after considering plenty options I made my choice: GoDaddy, just like you.
I use a wiredtree managed VPS too, and I’m very satisfied with their service.
But today GoDaddy cloud hosting (4GH) is so attractive, isn’t?
Michael Cyger says
Try out ZippyKid.com. I host DomainSherpa there, as well as my other site that gets 300,000+ readers per month. They’re always up, always on top of any issues I see, and I highly recommend them.
C. King says
Everybody obviously loves GoDaddy. Except me. I used them for a while, but decided I didn’t want to contribute to a company that pursues profit from the online porn industry with such abandon. I switched all my hosting to BlueHost. They cover all the bases, do it cheaply, and unlike GoDaddy keep their servers clean (strong AUP). I realize it’s all a matter of preference, but I think it’s worth reminding folks that GoDaddy is a digital pimp of sorts. I think you could’ve done better.
Jay says
For low traffic/simple sites I use GoDaddy and it works fine. For busier or more intense scripts I use Liquid Web.
Brandy S. says
We have had our website hosted with GoDaddy for years and have had an exceptional experience with our account exec. and great IT team. Hope you have the same experience.
Mike Flynn says
Coincidently I decided just yesterday before reading this article to switch to Godaddy hosting. My current hosts, similarly a relatively small, though good, business strangely caters only to an upper limit bandwidth of 100GB. Their monthly charges for 2, 5, 10, 50 and 100 GB are
Jean Guillon says
I am with Godaddy because…it works.
– Operations on domain names “work”;
– Hosting “works”;
– Support answers emails. I get better answers from a US support than a French one 🙁
Dave Zan says
As long as they have what you’re looking for, and are “reliable” enough to hold the line. Good luck with Go Daddy, Andrew. 🙂
Frank says
Have you ever used GoDaddy’s phone support? How do you know they are actually effective?
SL says
Something to be aware of wrt how Godaddy handles copyright allegations (via DMCA). They differ from other hosts in that they will disable an *entire* site upon notification, as opposed to just the offending media/content. Interesting story from the great state of Texas:
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/05/25/1744246/photographer-threatened-with-legal-action-after-asserting-his-copyright
S.W. says
Just about made the leap to GoDaddy today because this site’s performance has been stellar for the last few weeks. I did a check w/ domaintools and for some reason they listed a dedicated server. Wondering if you’ve made a change recently or have you stuck with 4GH? Thanks.
Andrew Allemann says
@ S.W. – it’s 4GH with a dedicated IP address
S.W. says
Thanks Andrew!
Joe Rahall says
How could you transfer to GoDaddy. They are the biggest crocks in the Domain Registration Arena. Don’t you read the other blogs.
I have over 50 customers who came to me after their Shenanigans. They let customers domains expire and then demand $2,000 to get it back, If you search for domain names on their site and go back 3 days later the site is on hold but available for $500. When you try to cancel an account the clerk doesn’t speak english or just hangs up on you.
Icould go on for 5 more pages of real world horror stories.
Switch to anybody but GoDaddy.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Joe –
There are times you just have to call B.S. on an entire slew of statements, like these
“They let customers domains expire and then demand $2,000 to get it back, If you search for domain names on their site and go back 3 days later the site is on hold but available for $500. When you try to cancel an account the clerk doesn’t speak english or just hangs up on you.”
Frank says
@Joe Rahall:
What do you mean, “let customers domain expire”? I thought it was the customer’s responsibility to renew.
Joe Rahall says
This is not BS but real clients experiences. They do not send you renewal notice and let domain expire. Some of my customers do not realize they need to track their expiration dates.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Joe Rahall – Go Daddy sends so many renewal notices that I personally get pissed that they’re bothering me so much.
Your clients either have bad email addresses on file or don’t know what they’re doing.
The other things are a joke too.
I’ve called out Go Daddy many times over the years, but all three of these assertions are bunk.