I am not here to tell you that GoDaddy is the worst company ever. Actually, I really liked their services, their prices, and how easy they were to use. For someone just starting out, I feel like GoDaddy is a really good place to start. That is, as long as you are not tempted by their advertising and don’t forget to read the fine print. My list of pros is exactly the same size as my list of cons.

GoDaddy Shared Hosting / Domain Pros:

• Easy to use Domain Name configuration, services, and support
• Heavily supported with instructions on how to use GoDaddy’s services to work with other services
• Cheap and affordable hosting
• Wide range of products to choose from for your business needs
• They prorate refunds for partial months after a cancellation request was made (had to manually request the refund)

GoDaddy Shared Hosting / Domain Cons:

• Secular Advertising
• Slow page loading (Hosting)
• Slow email responses from websites (taking 1-6 hours for verification emails to be sent from my sites, GoDaddy’s response was I could upgrade to VPS)
• Support Representatives are sometimes very helpful, but other times act as if they are new hires and have no idea what they are talking about
• Their FREE SSL Certificates with certain plans expire after the first year (or prepaid plan, so if you pay for 3 years, you get a 3 year cert) then charged renewal fees after

As a Christian, one of the hardest sins I face is lust. GoDaddy’s Advertising campaign has a very immodest approach. They use a “sex sells” attitude to sell their company. In a secular world, that is very successful, and so is there business. I originally started using them because I was new to Domain management and hosting. There are lots of videos on GoDaddy’s products to help new users plug along. They are cheaper than most of the competition and offer discounts all the time! It took a couple of years, but I was able to learn enough to be able to switch to another provider without having to worry about messing up one of my sites.

My last reason for switching from GoDaddy is there 180 degree decision turning. GoDaddy publicly announced that it was supporting the SOPA act which PC World talked about in this article. Within less than a week, GoDaddy had taken enough heat to publicly denounce the SOPA act, stating the internet community was not ready for it in this article. I personally am opposed to the SOPA act, as is most other web businesses. My biggest issue is that they did not support their actions. Did they really back something that they knew nothing about? I highly doubt that!

What we can learn from this as a Christian? How often are we faced with making decisions that may have consequences? Those decisions may sometimes be faced with the question of whether we are following Jesus, or following sin. If we follow Jesus, we may very well find ourselves taking the heat from the world. Do we stop like GoDaddy did and do the 180 to appease man? Jesus teaches us in John 15:18-20:

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” ESV

I want to encourage everyone, to stand strong in your faith. GoDaddy’s decision was not a life or death decision, such as one as important as following Christ. I am not wise enough to understand if God would be for, or against, these proposed acts, but I know that God is overall in control of whether they pass or not. To God be the Glory!

SOPA and PIPA Video, did GoDaddy know?: