Web Growth Exploding – Record Numbers Establishing Online Presence

May 15, 2007; 03:22 AM
GoDaddy.com®, the world’s top domain name registrar, is reporting record growth rates confirming the Internet is no longer just for the experts. Go Daddy®, which makes it easy to register domain names and manage Web sites, registered a total of 1 million domain names in the month of April alone. This has never happened in the history of the Internet.

This single statistic illuminates the fact more and more people are establishing and enhancing a Web presence to communicate, document and do business. What used to be reserved for Web masters is now routine behavior for all types of people, whether it’s a grandparent who sends email, a teenager who shares photos online or a business owner who uses the Web for e-commerce – the Internet is a part of day-to-day life.

If you have doubts, consider this: GoDaddy.com registers, renews or transfers a domain name every 1.3 seconds. This is almost five times faster than the registration rate recorded just five years ago. Registering a domain name enables everything from developing a Web site to using a customized email address or operating e-commerce.

“I’ve heard people say all the good dot-com names are taken – that’s just not the case," said Bob Parsons, Go Daddy® CEO and founder. "The Web is just getting going. We’ve only scratched the surface.”

Internet content stats are, in fact, growing at an epic pace daily. According to industry analyst Netcraft, LTD®, more than 12.8 million Web sites have been added to the Internet in the last five months alone. That is a sharp increase from 7.5 million during the same time last year and puts online growth on track for a record pace.

“These days, it’s not unusual for people to use one domain name for business and another for personal use and email, and we’ve got it all at GoDaddy.com,” said Parsons. “Our goal is to make it very easy for anyone to go to one place and get everything one needs to create and maintain a presence online.”

And as part of the Web site registration phenomenon, many people are registering more than just dot com names. They’re also registering .org, .net, .info and others. In fact, a large group of “.info” domain names recently helped push Go Daddy’s portfolio to more than 20 million domain names.

Name Intelligence ranks Go Daddy the leader by far, in terms of enabling a Web presence, with a market share nearly three times its closest competitor. Go Daddy currently has more than 4 million active customers and was recently ranked by independent sources as the top hosting company¹ and the top registrar², most notably for its price point and acclaimed customer service. GoDaddy.com does not offshore a single job and of its nearly 1,600 employees, more than 1,000 are devoted to customer support.

“I have three sites hosted by Go Daddy and would never use anyone else,” said GoDaddy.com customer Cheryl Asmus. “Their customer service and support are outstanding.”

“We know when it comes to communicating and doing business, people love the convenience of the Internet – but when it comes to learning or trying to solve problems, people like to deal with people,” said Parsons. “That’s why we have one phone number to call for help. We are your one-stop ‘Net shop.”

¹ Go Daddy was named number one Web host for May 2007 by TopHosts.com, an industry authority.

² Computer users voted Go Daddy as the best registrar in the business for the second year in a row in Domain Name Wire 2007 survey.

About The Go Daddy Group, Inc.

Go Daddy® is a leading provider of services that enable individuals and businesses to establish, maintain and evolve an online presence. Go Daddy provides a variety of domain name registration and Web site hosting services, as well as a broad array of on-demand and other services. The Go Daddy Group, Inc. has more than 20 million domain names under management. Go Daddy registers, renews or transfers a domain name every 1.3 seconds. GoDaddy.com is the world's No. 1 domain name registrar according to Name Intelligence, Inc. GoDaddy.com is also rated the world's largest hostname provider according to Netcraft® Ltd. During 2006, The Go Daddy Group registered approximately one-third of all domain names registered in the top six generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, including .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info.

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