An Interview with

Clint Page, CEO of Dotster

By Derek Iwasiuk

April 17, 2008

Would you tell us a few words about yourself? How long have you been working in the domain and web hosting industry?

I have been with Dotster in the domain and web hosting industry since it was privatized in 2000. During that time, I’ve been fortunate enough to have been part of several industry firsts, including the first namespin algorithm, auto renewals, the first shopping cart and the first expired domain auctions.

Under my tenure at Dotster, the company has thrived and has grown to become one of the largest registrars in the world. Dotster has helped almost one million businesses and individuals establish a web presence, build sites and drive traffic. We have stayed focused on a direct-to-consumer business model and are now servicing small and medium sized businesses as well.

Tell us more about Dotster’s new initiative “Happy Hour”. How will your complete suite of online marketing services help customers to establish major web presence?

Dotster’s Happy Hour is a new and unique way for small and medium sized businesses as well as home users to maximize the power of the Web. Dotster’s innovative promotion features a giveaway of 500 free domain names beginning on Thursday, April 17 at 4:00pm EDT. 500 Dotster customers will receive a coupon redeemable for one free .com, .net or .org domain name. During Happy Hour, Dotster is promoting its full lineup of unique value added services including Web hosting with a free web site builder, URL and e-mail forwarding, e-mail accounts and private domain registration.

During Dotster’s Happy Hour, customers who click the Happy Hour banner ad on the company’s homepage will be taken to a page where they can receive their coupon for one free domain. In addition, Dotster will be offering 10% off all Web hosting plans from April 17 to April 22.

Dotster’s complete suite of online marketing services helps customers establish a major web presence in many ways. Dotster allows customers to quickly get up and running on the Internet with maximum visibility. Dotster offers customers a full set of services including: getting online with a domain name and e-mail address; building a successful Web appearance with a custom, hosted web site; and generating traffic with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and local site promotion.

The first initiative will be followed up by another called “After Hours”. Will it be a natural extension of the first one and what exactly is it going to be?

Dotster’s “After Hours” sale will be a natural extension of the Happy Hour promotion. After Hours will feature additional domain registrations for only $6.99 and a number of other limited-time specials. During the After Hours sale, customers are encouraged to stay on the Dotster Web site and take advantage of this unique event after the 500 free domains are given away.

What makes Dotster different from other companies in the industry?

Dotster is a leading, full service provider of essential resources for businesses to get online and grow online. Dotster has helped nearly one million businesses and individuals establish their web presence, build their web sites, and drive revenue. Dotster offers a robust array of the most comprehensive Internet and online marketing tools to meet the demanding needs of today’s small and medium sized businesses. In addition, Dotster provides unparalleled personalized customer support at every step of the process.

With millions of domain names, Dotster is also one of the world’s largest ICANN-accredited domain registration and Web hosting companies. Dotster's expansive lineup of intuitive online offerings allows customers to quickly get on the Internet and get started with maximum visibility. Dotster's specialized team of Internet experts understands the online marketplace and the needs of small and medium sized businesses.

Tell us more about Dotster’s mission to provide wide range of innovative and easy-to-use solutions to its customers.

Dotster's mission is to provide the widest range of innovative and easy-to-use Internet solutions and back them with the unprecedented, personalized support that has earned the company superior customer loyalty rates.

Leveraging a strong market position within the domain name registration industry, Dotster has carefully nurtured relationships with its customer base and built a feature-rich line of value-added services around its core domain name product offering. By bundling services and providing one-stop shopping, Dotster has successfully grown and enjoyed increased breadth and loyalty of its customer base.

What does Dotster do to retain its existing customer base and how would you recommend the company to potential clients?

To retain its existing customer base, Dotster provides outstanding personalized service. We offer complete “soup to nuts” solutions that are backed by in-house customer support from our Internet industry experts. Dotster receives excellent word-of-mouth referrals from its ultra-satisfied customers who recommend the company to home users as well as businesses alike. Dotster also has superior customer renewal rates compared to the industry average. Dotster offers reliable and secure services. It also provides 100% reliable domain name services for U.S. federal and all state governments.

What are your ambitions and plans for the future development of Dotster? What eventual obstacles do you anticipate?

Our ambitions and plans for Dotster include the ability to offer customers a full suite of web enabled services. This features everything a business needs to get online and grow online -- every business today deserves a web site. Dotster was a registrar pioneer in custom web site building. We build the site to meet the customer’s vision and continue to do so with an expanded set of service offerings. Dotster will soon be making a major announcement with a monumental new offering. This will enable people and businesses to better communicate and share their web content.

How do you see the development of Domain Name Registration industry in the near and far future? Where do you see the Dotster’s role in the industry in the next years?

Domain names will become like phone numbers. They will become a destination not just for e-mail but for all types of communications. Everyone will have a domain name. There will be a growing convergence of information around domain names including: Web pages on PCs, PDAs, cell phones and other machines as well as an international expansion of Top Level Domains.

Dotster will be both an innovator and a market leader in providing new ways to use domain names. Domain names, the first step to getting your unique web identity online, continue to be an incredible value in the primary market and to be efficiently traded in the secondary market. At the same time, domain names are part of a whole ecosystem of web enabled value added services where companies like Dotster will bring new services to businesses and consumers.

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