Web.com and GoDaddy join IONOS and Wix on the Generative AI integration movement

As AI-powered features become more popular across all kinds of industries, a string of website builder services are also jumping on the bandwagon.

Web.com and GoDaddy have become the latest website hosting providers to integrate new AI features into its current website building model.

Along with Wix and IONOS, who both recently announced the launch of its AI text creator and ChatGPT integration, Web.com now offers an AI domain name generator and AI writer, while GoDaddy offers three new AI products that now use generative AI.

AI website building takeover  

Web.com says that both its AI domain name generator and AI writer were developed to remove some of the initial hurdles faced when building a site. 

The tool offers a variety of content prompts and interfaces depending on content needs, making it easy to tailor content to specific needs, for example, emojis for social posts. 

“Web.com offers more than 20 years of experience in helping businesses build and grow their online presences. AI Domain Name Generator and AI Writer are an outcome of our focus on simplifying the experience for customers and our commitment to bringing forward the best set of tools, all to reduce the complexity of succeeding online,” said Ed Jay, President of Newfold Digital, the parent company of Web.com. 

“With these AI features, entrepreneurs can choose the best domains for their business and create engaging content without being copywriting experts themselves. It’s like having a dedicated creative director or copywriter at your disposal.”   

Other customizable elements include design tones, keywords, and multilingual content generation in over 10 languages, including English, Spanish, French, and Mandarin.

GoDaddy incorporates AI

GoDaddy's three new AI products that now use generative AI include: online store product descriptions, customer service messages, an Instagram Facebook Ads.

With the online store product description, a set of prompts are run through three AI models to deliver a summary that gets dropped in the item's description online.

The GoDaddy conversations app summarizes customer service messages and the new update to social platform ads includes digital ads using generative AI for small businesses.

“We've heard from small businesses who want to grow their business, but they also want to improve their work-life balance,” said GoDaddy U.S. Independents President Gourav Pani. 

“GoDaddy built these AI tools with entrepreneurs in mind. Reducing the effort to create content that attracts and engages their customers, for instance, frees up small business owners' time to focus on growing their business and devoting time to their families.”

and IONOS?

IONOS’ new ChatGPT integration into IONOS MyWebsite Now Plus and Pro has been added to help its customers create blogs, texts and headlines in seconds.

The text generator uses the application programming interface (API) of ChatGPT 3.5 Turbo from OpenAI. The new integration means that SMBs can take control of their online presence, saving valuable time and resources while creating compelling web content.

“For a technology company like IONOS, artificial intelligence isn’t totally new,” said Achim Weiss, IONOS CEO.

“However, we’re proud to integrate AI technology into a product, supporting our customers in industry-specific writing and website maintenance. AI will further drive and accelerate the digitalization of small and medium enterprises.”

The feature is being integrated as a beta version in the MyWebsite Now Plus and Pro plans and uses the API (Application Programming Interface) gpt-3.5-turbo from OpenAI.

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GoDaddy sells $800m stake to private investor firm

American hedge fund Starboard Value acquired a 6.5% stake in GoDaddy, a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has shown. 

The deal had cost the fund approximately $ 800 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

According to the filing, the fund believed shares in the web hosting group were “undervalued” and represented “an attractive investment opportunity”.

Fall and rise

Even though the price of GoDaddy’s shares has been steadily climbing for the last five years, the sentiment shifted last summer, when the price dropped from a July high of $ 90.33, to a November low of 65.70. 

In November, news broke of a data breach at website builder WordPress which affected 1.2 million of GoDaddy’s users – and also pushed the company's stock price downwards to bottom at $ 65.70.

In the last 24 hours, the news of the acquisition propelled the price upwards, erasing almost all of the recent downside movement. At press time, the price is $ 82.35, but still down some 8.8% from its July high.

Pushing GoDaddy to do better

“Depending upon overall market conditions, other investment opportunities available to the Reporting Persons, and the availability of shares at prices that would make the purchase or sale of shares desirable, the Reporting Persons may endeavor to increase or decrease their position in the Issuer through, among other things, the purchase or sale of shares on the open market or in private transactions or otherwise, on such terms and at such times as the Reporting Persons may deem advisable,” the filing said, suggesting that Starboard isn’t just looking at this as an opportunity to make money. 

The WSJ added that Starboard is planning to “push” the company to improve its performance as well.

GoDaddy’s fourth quarter was better than many analysts predicted. It posted earnings of 58 cents per share, last month, as well as a 14.2% increase in group revenues, topping at $ 960 million.

For the current fiscal year, GoDaddy says its overall revenue will be around $ 3.7 billion.

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