GoDaddy Website Builder Review: Everything You Need To Know

In this article, we comprehensively review GoDaddy’s website builder, highlighting its pros, cons, features, and performance across various categories.

Key Takeaways

• GoDaddy is a user-friendly website builder incorporating Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) to simplify website creation. It offers a range of design elements, built-in SEO optimization tools, marketing and e-commerce features.
• GoDaddy is suitable for individuals, entrepreneurs, and small businesses looking to establish an online presence quickly and effortlessly.

What Is GoDaddy?

GoDaddy is a well-known company primarily known for being a domain registrar. It helps people buy and manage website addresses (like www.example.com). 

However, GoDaddy isn’t just about domain names – it has expanded its offerings to include website builders. GoDaddy now helps people create their own websites without knowing complicated coding. Interestingly, this website builder isn’t just about creating simple websites – it also has features that allow you to sell things online. 

GoDaddy Review: Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Quick Website Creation: GoDaddy offers a fast solution for building websites with an Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) editor, making it great for those who want to get online quickly.
• Flexible Theme Switching: If you change your website’s theme, GoDaddy automatically adjusts your content to fit the new design.
• User-Friendly: It’s one of the easiest website builders to use, even for beginners with no coding experience.
• Affordable Pricing: Compared to competitors, GoDaddy’s pricing plans are budget-friendly, especially for those just starting out.
• 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee: GoDaddy provides a 30-day window for users to try out its services risk-free, ensuring customer satisfaction.
• 24/7 Support: With round-the-clock support, GoDaddy offers assistance whenever needed.
• 99.9% Uptime Guarantee: GoDaddy ensures your website stays online with a high uptime guarantee, minimizing downtime.

Cons:

• Limited Creative Freedom: GoDaddy’s design options may be restrictive for those who want more creative control over their site’s appearance.
• Block Element Limitations: Some elements, like blocks, can be restrictive in terms of customization and layout.
• Shallow Features: Some features need more depth and complexity, which might not be suitable for those needing advanced functionalities.
• Lack of Visual Appeal: While functional, GoDaddy’s websites may not be as visually appealing as those created by other website builders.
• High Domain Renewal Rates: While initial pricing may be attractive, renewal rates can be higher, surprising users.

What Do Customers Say About GoDaddy Website Builder?

A lot of users find GoDaddy’s pricing plans affordable and appreciate the easy-to-use site design editor, the ability to sell things online, and a strong set of marketing tools. GoDaddy has its website builder and offers access to various content management systems to provide a friendly website-building solution for customers. Many of GoDaddy’s hosting plans include these features without extra charges.

However, some users have noticed that the lack of precise design control, especially for non-developers or designers (a big part of GoDaddy’s customers), makes design work a bit tiresome. There are also limitations to how much you can customize the design, and the e-commerce features might feel restricted. Additional features can also add up in cost.

In general, GoDaddy’s website builder is great if you want to create a website quickly. It might not be the best choice for advanced users who want to fine-tune every detail. It’s user-friendly but simpler, which might be too basic for certain users.

Who Should Use GoDaddy?

GoDaddy’s website builder is ideal for individuals and businesses seeking a simple and efficient solution to establish their online presence. Here’s who should consider using GoDaddy’s website builder:

• Small independent businesses looking to quickly create a professional website.
• Entrepreneurs with limited technical skills
• Individuals and businesses aiming to expand their online visibility
• Budget-conscious individuals
• Creators who prioritize a hassle-free experience with website building and design
• Businesses looking for a clean look

GoDaddy Pricing

Subscription Fees

GoDaddy offers four paid plans for its website builder. The prices of each plan are as follows:

• Basic:
  • Monthly Price: $11.99
  • Annual Price (Billed Yearly): $9.99/month
  • Features: Basic blogging functionality, image galleries, video and audio implementation, rapid page-loading performance, mobile responsiveness, SSL security, social sharing, GoDaddy Insights marketing suite.
• Standard:
  • Monthly Price: $15.99
  • Annual Price (Billed Yearly): $10.99/month
  • Additional Features: All features of the Basic Plan, increased email sends per month, SEO wizard for higher Google ranking, and appointment features for accepting booking payments.
• Premium:
  • Monthly Price: $21.99
  • Annual Price (Billed Yearly): $14.99/month
  • Added Features: All features of the Premium Plan, ecommerce capabilities to sell up to 5,000 products online, gift cards, discounts, and shoppable social posts.
• Commerce:
  • Monthly Price: $24.99
  • Annual Price (Billed Yearly): $16.99/month
  • Enhanced Features: Unlimited product selling, automated sales tax calculation, auto-populated tax forms, and the ability to send up to 100,000 emails per month.

GoDaddy offers discounts of up to 33% on its website builder plans when choosing an annual term. There are also various promo codes available that can provide additional discounts.

GoDaddy offers a 30-day free trial of its website builder, with no credit card required. You can start building your website for free and see if it works for you before upgrading to a paid plan. If you already paid for a plan, don’t worry, as GoDaddy offers a 30-day money-back guarantee; you’ve got 30 days to change your mind.

Transaction fees

While GoDaddy doesn’t charge transaction fees. However, some fees are imposed by GoDaddy Payment or third-party payment gateways.

Processing fees

Additional processing fees may be applicable based on the payment gateway chosen for processing transactions. It’s recommended to check the terms of the selected payment gateway for details.

GoDaddy Payments offers the lowest transaction fees compared to other leading providers. The fees are as follows:

• 2.3% + 0¢ per in-person transaction.
• 2.3% + 30¢ per online transaction.
• 3.3% + 0¢ per keyed-in transaction.

Ease Of Use

GoDaddy ADI Editor

GoDaddy prides itself on being user-friendly, and the ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) editor is a key factor in its ease of use. With the ADI editor, creating a website becomes a simple process. The platform automatically designs a site tailored to your needs by answering a few questions. 

GoDaddy’s technology eliminates the need for coding skills or technical expertise, making it ideal for beginners. The ADI editor streamlines the website creation process, allowing you to focus on content rather than intricate design elements. 

Customizing your site beyond what the ADI already does for you is as simple as adding elements and adjusting fonts.

GoDaddy Templates

The availability of over 100 templates enhances GoDaddy’s ease of use. These templates cover a range of industries and styles, giving you a starting point for your website’s design. The Theme Customizer feature lets you preview your website in various styles without losing content, making choosing the most suitable template easier. 

While the customization options are less extensive than some other platforms, the templates are a foundation for your site’s design. This combination of templates and the ADI editor ensures that even users without design experience can create a professional-looking website without bother.

Tools and Features

Social Media Integration

Social media integration is available in GoDaddy’s website builder, allowing you to connect your site with your social profiles. However, upon closer review, the functionality of this feature is limited compared to competitors like Wix and Squarespace.

With GoDaddy, you have the option to add icons that link to your various social media pages. Additionally, you can connect your Facebook store to your website. However, it’s worth noting that the overall social media integration experience on GoDaddy needs to be improved to the capabilities offered by its competitors.

On a positive note, GoDaddy is actively working to enhance its social media integration. It’s rolling out new features such as social sharing, live feeds, post creators, and scheduling. These additions are expected to elevate the capabilities of your website, making it more engaging and interactive. Additionally, GoDaddy supports YouTube live streaming, which is gaining popularity as a way to connect with a broader audience.

GoDaddy has good news for those selling products online: You can now sell your products on 1 to unlimited social platforms, including Instagram and Facebook.

SEO & Mobile Responsiveness

GoDaddy’s website builder offers SEO tools tailored for beginners, making improving your website’s search engine visibility easier. In recent testing, GoDaddy’s SEO tools led to a 33.33% increase in SEO scores. 

The platform now automatically assesses and optimizes your site for popular search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo! For business owners, there’s the option to list your business details on platforms like Google and Yelp, expanding your online reach. Additionally, GoDaddy has enhanced site speed by 7%, a crucial factor in SEO, as slow websites can lead visitors to leave.

Here are the key features of GoDaddy’s SEO tools:

• Edit Meta Titles and Descriptions: Customize your site’s appearance in search results.
• Change URL Slugs: Modify the website page URLs to be more SEO-friendly.
• Add Image Alt Text: Optimize images with descriptive text for better search engine indexing.
• Receive Keyword Support: Get assistance in choosing relevant keywords for better search rankings.
• Use Mobile Responsive Themes: Utilize themes that automatically adapt to various screen sizes for a seamless mobile experience.
• Added Custom Headers and URLs: Further customize your site’s headers and URLs for improved SEO.

It’s worth noting that GoDaddy’s advanced SEO tools are unavailable with the lowest-priced plan, so consider this when selecting your subscription.

GoDaddy’s SEO wizard is particularly beginner-friendly, offering an accessible way to optimize your website. While it may lack some of the more advanced SEO functions found in platforms like Squarespace or Wix, such as canonical tags, GoDaddy remains an excellent choice for those new to SEO.

GoDaddy ensures that all websites created with their builder are mobile responsive. This means your site’s layout automatically adjusts to different devices, ensuring a smooth user experience on desktop and mobile/tablet screens. You won’t have direct control over editing the mobile version of your site. 

GoDaddy manages the mobile design, which might be a consideration if you prefer more hands-on control over your mobile site’s appearance. Despite this, your content will seamlessly update to fit the new format, maintaining consistency across devices.

Email Marketing

GoDaddy equips you with essential tools for effective email campaigns. For starters, GoDaddy provides you with a personalized email address for a year via G Suite. On top of that, GoDaddy offers its own built-in email service, allowing you to engage in targeted email marketing campaigns. Email marketing remains a potent strategy with enduring relevance.

Under the Godaddy’s email cheapest plan, you can send up to 100 emails per month, while the more extensive Commerce plan lets you send up to 25,000 emails. This flexibility accommodates businesses of varying scales.

Moreover, GoDaddy presents a Digital Marketing Suite that elevates your business website’s capabilities. This comprehensive suite enables streamlined management of business listings, social media posts, and email marketing, all through a single dashboard – a convenient arrangement.

One of GoDaddy’s standout features is its tailored action plans. These plans provide clear guidance on areas of your site that require attention to enhance engagement. This strategic approach aids in optimizing your website’s performance and boosting overall customer interaction.

Domains

As one of the world’s largest domain registrars, GoDaddy helps you make domain setup a breeze.

Purchasing a domain through GoDaddy comes with remarkable ease and affordability. The price range for a domain spans from $6.99 to $12.99 (excluding VAT) for a 1-year registration, inclusive of a custom email address. An exciting perk: all annual plans grant you the free first year of your domain!

Already own a domain and considering migrating it to GoDaddy? No sweat. With a helpful guide, the transfer process is straightforward. The transfer might take around 7 to 10 days to finalize.

On any of GoDaddy’s paid plans, you can seamlessly connect a custom domain. GoDaddy’s robust domain services and user-friendly procedures make it an excellent choice for all your domain needs.

Ecommerce

Are you transitioning from selling on platforms like eBay or Etsy to your very own website? GoDaddy’s website builder offers an excellent solution. GoDaddy is an ideal choice for small businesses. It’s noteworthy that it’s not the best fit for larger enterprises due to its storage limitations until the Premium plan. 

Here’s a short list of the ecommerce features you can use with GoDaddy:

• SSL Security: Provides a shield for customer payments and transactions.
• Abandoned Cart Recovery: Helps you recover potential sales from abandoned carts.
• Promotions and Discounts: This enables you to offer special deals to your customers.
• Marketplace and Social Selling: Facilitates selling on various platforms, including social media.
• Effective SEO and Marketing Tools: Boosts your site’s visibility and marketing efforts.
• Site Performance Tracking: Keeps you informed about your site’s performance.

For $16.99 per month (renewing at $24.99), you can sell up to 5,000 products, send abandoned cart emails, and implement discounts/coupons. It also supports multiple payment methods, including credit and debit card payments, as well as PayPal and Apple Pay.

Overall, GoDaddy’s ecommerce plan caters perfectly to individuals and small businesses seeking to sell various products. With a blend of practical features and budget-friendly options, GoDaddy can be your ally in taking your online business to the next level.

Security, Backup, and Storage

GoDaddy includes SSL (secure socket layers) security with all its packages. In simple terms, SSL security establishes a secure connection between a web server and a browser, ensuring that any data exchanged between them remains confidential and intact. This layer of security not only safeguards your visitors’ data but also communicates your trustworthiness to them.

Additionally, GoDaddy provides a remarkable 99.9% uptime guarantee for its hosting services. This means your website will be operational nearly all day, with minimal downtime – often just a matter of minutes. The platform also boasts comprehensive network redundancy to enhance its reliability further.

GoDaddy’s website builder features an invaluable auto-save function that continually backs up your site, even when you overlook it. This proves to be an essential asset in case your site experiences a crash or becomes compromised.

However, it’s important to note a distinction from some other website builders: You can only restore your site to the last saved point. If an error occurs and the auto-save kicks in, rectifying the mistake will require manual intervention rather than a simple restoration to a previous error-free version.

Overall, GoDaddy’s commitment to security, coupled with its automated backup capabilities, offers you a reassuring level of protection against unforeseen disruptions.

GoDaddy’s Help And Support

GoDaddy ensures that assistance is readily available through a 24/7 phone line, catering to any concerns or issues you might encounter. Moreover, a live chat feature is accessible from Monday to Friday, between 5 a.m. and 6 p.m.

While GoDaddy’s overall score has yet to see significant changes since the previous year, it has introduced some notable improvements. Email support has been added to its array of support options, and the platform has expanded its collection of video tutorials in the help center.

Should you prefer not to wait on the phone or require assistance beyond the stated hours, GoDaddy’s knowledge base and forum are valuable resources at your disposal. These resources cover general and broad inquiries effectively. However, if you’re seeking answers to specific or niche questions about GoDaddy, you may find it necessary to engage directly with their support staff.

GoDaddy Alternatives to Try

If you’re exploring alternatives to GoDaddy’s website builder, here are a couple of noteworthy options to consider:

Shopify

Shopify is not just a website builder; it’s a comprehensive e-commerce platform that empowers businesses of all sizes to create, customize, and manage their online stores with remarkable ease.

Renowned for its user-friendly interface, extensive feature set, and versatility, Shopify has become the go-to choice for entrepreneurs, retailers, and enterprises seeking to establish a robust online presence. It offers customizable templates, secure payment gateways, and seamless integration options.

Shopify streamlines the process of building and managing a professional online store, allowing businesses to focus on what they do best – delivering exceptional products and services to customers around the world. Whether you’re a newcomer to the digital marketplace or a seasoned online retailer, Shopify offers a dynamic platform to bring your brand to life and drive e-commerce success.

Wix

Wix is another smart website builder that meets various needs, including e-commerce. It offers a diverse range of templates, an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, and a host of features suitable for creating a professional-looking website. While Wix’s e-commerce capabilities are not as specialized as Shopify’s, they are still robust and suitable for smaller businesses and individuals looking to sell products online.

Final Thoughts

This is the end of the GoDaddy website builder review. GoDaddy is an ideal choice for small businesses starting to sell online in small quantities with little technical expertise. Good luck with your business choice!

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