If you’ve visited AprilTara.com over the past week or so, you probably saw nothing but an ad-cluttered page courtesy of GoDaddy. If I’d known transferring my domain from them would be such a hassle, I would have posted a warning here.
Transferring domains is a lot more of a pain than I thought it would be. There’s all of this back-and-forth between the old registrar, the new one, the people who do the private domain registration thing… but its finally done! And I now have one less domain registered with GoDaddy.
I’ve been transitioning all of my domains over to Name.com for a while now – I have about 30 domains – and I’m down to about 4 left that haven’t been moved yet. Someone asked me on Twitter the other day why I switched.
My response? Name.com is extremely simple. The layout of the account management page is very clean, navigation is uncomplicated. Take a look at this screen shot comparison. The first image is what Name.com looks like when I log in and click on “Account” at the top. On the right, GoDaddy.
(Click thumbnails for larger images.)
Now, maybe its just me, but GoDaddy is much more complicated when it comes to navigation. Actually, the way it looks now is a recent improvement. It used to be a lot worse but it looks like they’ve cleared out some – but not all – of the clutter and extra menus. Without bogging down this post with a bunch of screen shots, I’ll just tell you that something like changing the nameservers on a domain takes about 2 clicks of the mouse. First, on the menu on the right, click on Edit Nameservers, then enter the new nameservers and click ‘Submit’. Oops, almost forgot….it’s actually 3 clicks because you have to click ‘Remove’ to get rid of the old ones.
On GoDaddy, I’d have to sit here and stare at the screen for a couple of minutes to try and remember where I even go to start the whole process. Do I look under the “Domains” drop down menu across the top of the screen? Do I look under “My Products” on the left and then click on “Domains” or “Domain Manager”….?
There are also a few other reasons why I’ve been moving all of my domains to Name.com, including:
- Google App integration
- Free (and simple!!) private WhoIs registration
- Cheaper prices on renewals and transfers
- Quick & personal customer support
Anyway…all of that just to tell you why AprilTara.com was down for a few days. And if you’re a domain addict like I am, try Name.com next time. No affiliate links or anything here, just personal opinion.
Ouch, April, I feel you on this. I had a domain with GoDaddy and wanted to transfer to Bluehost. Everything fine with Bluehost end but GoDaddy was a nightmare.
And yes, they’re navigation leaves a lot to be desired, even after the redesign.
Speaking of redesigns, very funky theme you have here
It was just such a pain, getting the authorization and messing around not only with GoDaddy but with whoever they use for the private Whois registration.
I’m loving Headway! I’ve still got some changes I want to make but just haven’t had the time since it involves doing some graphics first. But once those are done, it’ll take me like 10 minutes to make the changes in Headway.
I used to work at godaddy, so here’s my thoughts.
1) Switching domain hassles is not godaddy’s fault. And other companies make that way worse than godaddy.
2) If you have 24-7 phone in support with name.com, then you have something to compare to. I find that service unbeatable when “in need.”
3) Godaddy always gave the customer the benefit of the doubt, refunds, etc, unless it was simply impossible due to issue.
Maybe name.com is better, I’m open to that, but I’ll bet there are “issues” whoever you are with.
No, Name.com does not have 24/7 support lines. But I’m moving my 30 domains there from Moniker anyway. Moniker has a very poor customer support. It’s not how they treat customers, it’s simply the fact that they won’t answer the phone. They also charge for redirects, at almost the same prices they do for registering domain names. Very little there in the way of freebies or bonus products. I’ve managed to learn how to use Moniker’s interface, but many people swear at it for being so confusing. Better than Godaddy, but definitely gets outclassed by Name.com’s offerings.
you also forgot to say that name.com is WAY faster than godaddy to load to!
With such a simple uncluttered interface I won’t think many people who generally manage more than few sites would need for any support. I don’t know how I came to know about name.com but I am really thankful that I almost started my web-designing career with them. We generally go through lots of different registrar/reseller interfaces for our client’s sites but till now I am yet to find an interface which is simpler than name.com . And I haven’t done much extensive pricing comparison but I have stopped doing it because I am more than happy with name.com . I wish them great success.