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GoDaddy.com’s New Direction: Less Provocative, More SMB Focused

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LogoWTaglineToday I got an email from current CEO Blake Irving, regarding the changes at Godaddy.com. Being a loyal customer of the service for over 7 years now, this new direction looks to be very serious and even more attractive for people trying to start a website.

Today, GoDaddy’s front page got a revamp. Gone is Danika Patrick and those provocative GoDaddy commercials you saw during the Superbowl, World Series, NBA finals and other events. Who replaced her?

Jean Claude Van Damme?

This is part of GoDaddy’s new era – “It’s go time“. A great marketing slogan that can point to GoDaddy and their new direction.

In the email, Irving wrote:

Blake Irving, Godaddy“Today, GoDaddy is the world’s largest web host and domain provider — and sites registered or hosted with us make up a massive portion of what we know as the Internet today. That statement, however, says little about who you are, our customers, or how we can serve you best. So earlier this year we embarked on an effort to learn more about you, what makes you so incredibly unique, and the values you all have in common. In the process, we learned an equal amount about ourselves, and we’re making changes to reflect that new clarity. ”

Irving goes on to say they want to know more about you and how to make you succeed. They started by streamlining the website – making things easier and “more intuitive”. GoDaddy also highlighted their Award winning customer support (awards from CareerBuilder’s Top Companies to Work for Award, to  Fortune 100 “Best Companies to Work For”).

Other Changes at Godaddy.com

GoDaddy is bringing on new Top Level Domains, such as .app, .web and more (over 700 new gTLD from ICANN).

They started a new video ad campain using Jean Claude Van Damme to show how serious – yet still jockular – they can be. The first video includes a baker who not only gets new orders through his GoDaddy website, but a full solo from Van Damme who motivates while telling him “It’s Go Time”.

Out With the Old, In With the New

Founder and previous CEO Bob Parsons brought a lot of controversy, not only on GoDaddy for viral content, but also on his personal life. He left when GoDaddy was purchased in 2011. Interim CEO Warren Adelman made some changes, but it was not the direction the board was looking for. It took two years to bring Blake Irving on as CEO (former EVP at Yahoo! and VP of Windows Live Platform at Microsoft). Irving’s approach is for Small Business owners (SMB).

In an interview he did earlier this year, he talked about how he has a full open door policy. He talks about how he walks around campus in jeans and t-shirts, talking to people and finding out what matters to them.

Irving’s Direction is no Joke, though…

Irving states: “This is the radical shift we knew we had to make and it’s more than just marketing. A brand is a promise to our customers and a commitment to understand their needs. Our mission is to ‘fight the good fight for the go getter’ … the small business owner … or anyone who labors for the love of it and wants the benefits of the latest technology without having to be an expert.”

With a new look and a different direction, GoDaddy seems to be focusing less on viral content and more on the SMBs they need to appease. From Domains to hosting, SSL certificates and more.

What are YOUR THOUGHTS on GoDaddy’s new direction? Comment below!

Boxee Adding Digital Television Signal via Dongle

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Boxee Live TV Dongle
Boxee Live TV Dongle

If you run your Boxee through a computer monitor rather than a flat screen TV, or just don’t want to flip to the terrestrial line, well fret no more. Boxee has launched Live TV – a USB dongle that will connect to your cable or antenna so you can watch television straight from the box!

The Live TV stick is an HD antenna that provides Boxee Box owners with local channels like ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CW and any other over-the-air channel you might get. The Live TV will be available in January 2012 for $49.

“Last year, 89 of the top 100 shows were on broadcast networks – they remain the most popular channels on cable.” says Boxee CEO Avner Ronen on the Boxee blog. ” The Superbowl, the World Series, the Oscars, the Grammys, presidential debates and addresses, the Olympics… they’re all on broadcast. Yes, there are hundreds of cable channels, but make a list of the stuff you actually watch. You will probably find that most are on broadcast and the rest are available on Vudu/Netflix/Network sites.”

For $49, you get the dongle. I would guess there is no need for a remote, like a regular TV to PC dongle, because it could be controlled via the Boxee software.

Boxee screen
Boxee screen

Keep in mind, any over-the-air channel might not be in full HD. Primary HD channels could be in 1080p, 1080i, 720p or less. If a channel has a 2nd and 3rd sub-channel (ex: Channel 3.1 is the primary, Channel 3.2 and 3.3 are sub-channels), those would most likely run at 480i. If the Primary channel wants to run 1080p, it would have to turn off the sub-channels to do so.

Also keep in mind about the signals of over-the-air TV. The farther away from the antenna you are, the better chance of channel breakage you could get.

If you can get past that, this might be a great way to connect the TV to your… well, TV. Of course, if you haven’t cut the cable yet, you can also connect your cable to this and funnel those channels through your Boxee.