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Go Daddy to introduce easy-to-use Web site service

AT STAKE

Millions of creative people can register millions of their own domain names, but far fewer folks can set up their own Web sites to make use of those names. They may hire a Web design firm to do it, entrust the job to techno-savvy teens or the neighborhood geek, or do without features such as email, photo albums, RSS feeds, blogs and chats.

"We know there are a lot of individuals who would like to have their own Web site but are intimidated and scared of the technology that goes into it," Go Daddy Group Inc. spokesman Nick Fuller said.

UPDATE: Go Daddy, the Scottsdale-based domain name registrar, plans to announce Monday that it is coming out with SmartSpace, a product aimed at the non-technical, do-it-yourself market. It makes domain-name owners the administrators of their own Web sites, giving them "complete access to almost any function someone with a Web site would want," Go Daddy said.

Users who register domain names at www.godaddy.com can sign up for SmartSpace as an option during the checkout process. By enabling their Web site with SmartSpace, they can add technology to equip the site with email or other tools.

Pricing is still being determined but could run $4.99 a month, Fuller said.

WHAT'S NEXT: Go Daddy says it will watch how customers use the first iteration of SmartSpace and make improvements based on what they want and need.

LEARN MORE: www.godaddy.com.

- Jane Larson, The Republic/azcentral.com, jane.larson@arizonarepublic.com