If you’ve been on YouTube lately, or watched the Super Bowl, you’ve watched at least one ad for GoDaddy Airo. The all-in one tool is designed to assist small businesses in creating a website, social media ads, social media posts and email campaigns.
See their hilarious commercial here:
GoDaddy is promoting Airo as an all in one tool for non techie small business owners who need to get their website and marketing up and running without having to lift a finger.
With Airo, small business owners could eliminate the need for several software platforms, such as social media schedulers, email marketing, graphic design. You don’t even need to search for a website designer.
Great promises. But do they fit the reality?
How GoDaddy promotes its products
Due to its heavy promotion on TV, often using popular celebrities, GoDaddy has always been known for its domain registration and web hosting services.
It is heavily marketed towards the general non tech savvy population who needs simplified website solutions such as domain name registration, hosting and website creation.
The success of its marketing shows that the company understands the challenges of having a small businesses with a tight budget.
How Airo works
GoDaddy is heavily pushing Airo towards its domain registration buyers. Airo is included with every domain. And the price is enticing. You can get a .com domain for only 1 cent in your first year, if you use Airo.
Once you purchase, Airo immediately creates a website page, with content based on your domain. You can then use Airo to create a branded logo, and use their suggested content for social media and email campaigns.
If you want, you can also use the platform to set up ads that will be displayed on either Facebook or Instagram.
Did I mention that Airo can also register your company as an LLC?
What to watch out for
-
- Airo is beginner friendly, geared to entrepreneurs who need to get started quickly, and who have limited budgets. It’s a way to introduce you to features that you need for marketing your business. However, once your business grows, you will need a more robust, customizable solution.
-
- Website developers state that the website builder has numerous limitations that prevent users from editing pages to their own specifications.
-
- In real time, users are complaining about not being able to turn off the website builder that comes with the domain name. Tech support can’t help because it’s also AI based. The user in question had to get GoDaddy to delete the website altogether.
- GoDaddy has an unfortunate reputation of slipping in charges that you don’t expect. For instance, you could end up paying for two years of hosting, when you only wanted one. It is the buyer’s responsibility to double check any charges before hitting the checkout button.
Some other AI website builder alternatives
This article from TechRadar presents other AI platform alternatives to GoDaddy. The list includes SquareSpace, Hostinger, Wix, and Elementor.
Wix comes out on the top of their list. Its Business Launcher AI tool provides more flexible design options and allows more integration with other tools. For instance, you can easily connect your website with email marketing.
The Business Launcher also includes a more robust SEO assistance tool, and its e-commerce website platform has more scope than Airo.
Overall, while Airo is targeted at small businesses looking for a quick set up, Wix Business Launcher is geared towards business that want to grow.