Go Daddy to focus more on mobile and international markets

Go Daddy, the Arizona domain registrar known for its raunchy Super Bowl commercials, has begun shifting its focus toward growth in mobile and international markets.

CEO Blake Irving said mobile has become as important to its growth as the registration of new domain names.

“I would not be surprised if you saw 50% of Internet traffic coming from mobile devices five years from now, and honestly, it could be greater than that,” Irving said in an interview with The Times.

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Irving said that’s why this month Go Daddy purchased M.dot, an iPhone app that enables users to build mobile websites using their phone. Users can save their design and if they decide they want to make it a full-fledged website, they can then purchase a domain name and hosting plan from Go Daddy.

“In three to five minutes you can create a website on your own device,” Irving said.

Go Daddy has also been working with DudaMobile, a service that lets users create a mobile version of their existing website.

Irving said mobile matters because in other parts of the world, such as Latin America and Asia, many users are accessing the Internet solely through their phones.

“For small business owners in countries like Asia and Latin America their phone is their computer,” Irving said. “Many international entrepreneurs may never access the Web from a desktop computer outside of the occasional cyber cafe.”

He added that he’d like to see mobile become more than 50% of Go Daddy’s business.

As a result, Irving said users might start to notice some changes in the company’s marketing. Going forward, mobile will be emphasized more, which could mean a mobile-focused Super Bowl commercial, and Go Daddy might also begin placing ads outside of just American football.

“A lot of the appeal of what M.dot does is outside of the U.S. where there isn’t a lot of interest in football. It’s the other kind of football -- futbol,” Irving said. “I think you’ll see an increasing mobile presence in all of our advertising.”

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