Namecheap: The World’s Second-Largest Domain Registrar Continues Its Commitment to Serve Entrepreneurs Through Top-Tier Hosting Solutions

TL; DR: When Richard Kirkendall founded Namecheap nearly two decades ago, he created a multicultural company with a forward-thinking attitude. Namecheap quickly became one of the world’s largest domain registrars, a status resulting mainly from the company’s team of web experts situated around the globe. Today, with a strong focus on delivering innovative web products to entrepreneurs, startups, and SMBs, Namecheap is continuing to serve customers worldwide with its new powerful hosting and WordPress packages. We recently sat down with Namecheap’s Head of PR and Communications Derek Musso, who told us that the company is dedicated to providing site owners with the web solutions they need to broadcast their brands in the online marketplace.

In 2000, tech enthusiast and entrepreneur Richard Kirkendall had a novel idea. He thought that the key to a successful technology venture was to build a diverse team of experts who were bent on delivering stellar customer experiences. And he was right. Richard’s company, Namecheap, has stood the test of time in the fiercely competitive tech space.

“It’s pretty rare for a private technology company to be 18 years old, but here we are — the second-biggest retail registrar in the world,” said Derek Musso, Namecheap’s Head of PR & Communications.

One reason Namecheap has found such long-lasting success is its unique company culture.

Derek told us the Namecheap team is spread out across the globe. He works in New York, the Global Head of Marketing is in Greece, and the Head of SEO lives in the UK.

“Our international team gives us a different perspective,” Derek said. “Team members are able to learn from one another and what types of web technologies different user groups from, say, Europe and Asia, are looking for.”

And it’s this unique point of view that’s lead to the creation of a number of customer-focused solutions. As the company’s name implies, affordable domains have long been Namecheap’s bread and butter. However, by keeping an ear to the ground to discover what types of solutions customers need, Namecheap got into the hosting game — and with great success.

Being open to new ideas has many advantages, and Derek told us that one of the biggest is being agile and having the ability to change course to satisfy customer demand.

“One of the things that Namecheap did early on was expand its products,” Derek said. “We found that a lot of web developers bought web domains with us, so it was a natural transition for us to go into hosting.”

All Stellar packages come with cPanel, access to WordPress, the latest Dell server technology, and a customer support team that’s available 24/7 via live chat.

Namecheap offers three shared hosting packages, Stellar, Stellar Plus, and Stellar Business. Starting at just a few dollars per month, all three plans feature unmetered bandwidth, a free domain name, a WhoisGuard subscription, and SSL certificates.

In addition to the above, Stellar Plus includes unmetered SSD-accelerated disk space and unlimited websites, while Stellar Business includes 50GB pure SSD disk space, improved performance for consumers, and twice daily back-ups.

WordPress powers 30% of all sites on the web, including Mercedes Benz, the Walt Disney Company, eBay, and CNN. And individuals and entrepreneurs of all stripes are turning to the content management system’s tools to run their online properties. As a result, Namecheap developed a WordPress solution, EasyWP, that’s been gaining a lot of traction with customers.

“EasyWP is something we’ve put a lot of work into,” Derek said. “It grew a big audience quickly.”

EasyWP makes WordPress hosting simple and fast. Using the solution, customers can create and have a WordPress site up and running in less than 30 seconds.

EasyWP also includes three layers of advanced caching, simple backups, an easy-to-use dashboard, and supports a gigantic array of plugins. Derek told us the solution delivers all the perks of a managed WordPress platform without the exorbitant costs.The introductory rate for EasyWP only runs $1.00 per month, and after the first year, renewal costs only a few dollars more.

The primary reason Namecheap’s products are so effective is because they’re built with patience and intelligence. The team doesn’t push products to market before they’ve met the company’s quality assurance metrics. Derek told us the primary focus is on delivering products and services that solve customer pain points and needs.

“One thing we do from a product standpoint is we don’t rush to get things out,” he said. “And we always test them with our audience. Since we’re lucky enough to already have millions of customers, we can roll things out differently than other companies.”

That attitude makes a big difference. Derek said the team isn’t concerned about mass adoption if the product isn’t ready, and EasyWP is a classic example of this.

“At first, we only rolled it out to a small number of customers who were interested in WordPress hosting or were WordPress site builders,” Derek said. “We listened to their feedback and refined the product based on their suggestions. At the same time, we watched market trends and thought about different ways we could add value that our established customers would love and attract new customers.”

At the end of the day, Namecheap sticks to one underlying philosophy.

“We try to create products and services with our core customers in mind,” Derek said. “They’re web pros, startups, and entrepreneurs. And we’re always looking to offer people the best and most competitive pricing.”

But Derek noted that a cheap product is effectively worthless if it doesn’t work.

“The reason our customer base sticks with us is because we offer incredible customer service,” he said. “If you take a look at ShopperApproved and other sites with verified reviews, our customers always rate us very highly. We’re always among the best rated.”

With more than 1 million reviews, Namecheap has a stellar 4.6 out of 5-star satisfaction ranking. Customers praise the company’s free WhoisGuard, its easy checkout process, its price, and its practice of “going easy on the upsell.”

Namecheap gets a great rating because it understands its customers.

“Privacy is paramount, which is why we offer free WhoisGuard privacy protection to everyone who buys domains from us,” Derek said. “We absolutely have to protect people’s data and identities. That’s probably even more important than all of the web development products we offer.”