GoDaddy sharpens focus on India

GoDaddy, one of the world's largest web hosting entities, said it would make deeper inroads in this country and launch a host of India-specific tools to enable at least 51 million small and medium businesses (SMBs) to come online.

The US-based major considers India its second largest market after America and one of its top revenue generating countries. It announced the launch of a 'Website Builder', a mobile-optimised one, with an integrated suite of online tools to help small businesses and entrepreneurs create an audience for their business and drive traffic to their website.

The company says it has managed to bring 750,000 SMBs on its platform. It is also launching in Telugu and Kannada; services are already available in Hindi, Marathi and Tamil.

"Considering that internet access in India is mobile-first, websites created on GoDaddy's new Website Builder are built from the ground up, to be fully responsive on phones and tablets, in addition to laptops and desktops. Customers can choose from more than 1,500 ideas or industries with robust support from GoDaddy's award-winning customer care to assist customers, as they build out their digital presence," said Andrew Low Ah Kee, executive vice-president, GoDaddy International.

The company said it was working on reaching out to the tier-III and tier-IV city markets, and had 400-plus customer care professionals to assist SMBs.

"According to a recent GoDaddy1 survey in India, small businesses perceive setting up a website and selling online to be complex and something that requires deep technical expertise. This new Website Builder enables users to design a professional looking website by simply typing in their name and industry or an idea, and get a near-complete website, populated with relevant sections and professional images," added Low Ah Kee.

At least 34 million small businesses in this country, it is estimated, are still not visible online. GoDaddy says it is also helping SMBs set up their own e-commerce websites. Enterprises are charged a monthly Rs 999 and have access to a payments gateway, syncing with social networking sites, free hosting with unlimited bandwidth, as well as Google analytics to monitor the business trends, says the company.