Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Premiership of domains

Last weekend I had a chance to watch a bit of English Premier League match (that's soccer or football as it is called in the Old World) between "Aston Villa" and "Queens Park Rangers". Performance of both teams could not be called superb although Rangers, who joined the League only in this season, were very persistent and controlled ball much more than Villans. Interesting detail caught my attention.

Those ad boards you can inevitably see around the play field do have all sorts of ad messages and promote all kinds of businesses. Some of those businesses more traditional than others but usually they encompass something tangible. That field though had a different kind of ad - it was ad of "Go Daddy", online domains registrations and hosting company. The firm that employs athletic looking ladies Danica Patrick and Gillian Michaels to promote online services to those who in need of online presence. Mastodon of internet hosting that reportedly registered roughly half of all domains out there in the cyberspace.

Those who can be considered soccer fans do not represent the most patient part of society. If "Go Daddy" decided spent a bunch of money (it is hard to believe that ad boards at English Premiership games are inexpensive) that might mean that interface this company currently offers for websites and domains management is going to be streamlined and simplified. It is very confusing in its present state even for those who does do something there frequently. One guy, soccer fan himself, described to me his experience of going to his "Go Daddy" account as if he suddenly finds himself on Las Vegas Strip with all those lights and ads around him. If millions of soccer fans rush to "Go Daddy" website after Premiership season, technical support of that company can explode due to high volume of calls. But who knows, may this is also a kind of strategy they have - to keep interface confusing so people would be calling so agents could upsell something. That's how usually credit card companies push insurance and other related services, you call to sort out some ridiculous charge on your card and end up listening to a long speech about amazing promos only weirdos don't take advantage of.

It was also interesting to learn that British Prime Minister David Cameron is an "Aston Villa" fan. He was on the bench for dignitaries there watching the match with his young son. His facial expression was very intense at times. And no one could say what would be the reason for that: lackluster performance of his favorite team, aggressive promotion of "Go Daddy" or all those problems euro displayed so spectacularly last couple of months.