Design is about more than pretty pictures. Smart strategic design can do big things for a business. It can elevate a brand and establish credibility. It can increase readership and drive sales.
Caroline Siassios, who has more than 14 years of experience as a graphic designer, founded Australia’s Black Mouse Design in 2013 to help organizations develop branded print and digital materials that align with their business vision and help them stand out in the marketplace.
“My aim is to empower businesses to take fast action on their big ideas through creative design solutions,” she says.
But Caroline quickly learned that it wasn’t enough for her to be responsive to her clients’ needs. She needed a technology service provider that understood her needs and could provide reliable customer support, too.
Help overcoming growing pains
Caroline found herself frustrated with the responsiveness of the company she’d first chosen to register her domain and set up website hosting and email. They didn’t provide the phone support, consistent customer service and technical expertise she required. As Caroline explains:
“As a small business, I rely on the expertise of my suppliers to enable me to provide a high level of customer service. If my website is down due to server problems or if one of my clients is experiencing technical problems, I need to have confidence in the expertise of my service provider for prompt advice and solution.”
She experienced downtime on a monthly basis as well as various issues with renewing domains. Plus, she encountered slow website speeds and limited control panel options. She even had problems with not receiving emails from clients, which made her seem unprofessional. That was all on top of the lack of customer support and delayed response times.
It was clearly time to change providers.
“A website growing in content, functionality and site visitors requires a reliable platform,” Caroline says. “And I needed help to scale accordingly.”
She needed a provider that could accommodate a smooth domain and web hosting transition while offering greater functionality and website control at a competitive price.
Partnering with GoDaddy
After a rigorous selection process, Caroline chose GoDaddy for its competitive pricing
and 24/7 exceptional customer service. “Since moving my website to GoDaddy 12 months ago, I have not faced issues with my site speed or visibility,” she says.
Creating a strong online presence with GoDaddy has helped Caroline develop greater awareness of Black Mouse Design and add clients and services to her roster.
“In the past two years, my work has moved from just branding and visual content to now working with partners to develop additional creative solutions,” Caroline says. “A platform to visually communicate who I am and the work I represent is key to winning over clients, and I felt like my previous hosting partner did not provide the level of service I needed at all times.”
From Day 1 with GoDaddy, Caroline was assured she would have the support she needed around the clock.
“The team made me feel like they were an extension of Black Mouse Design with incredible technical expertise and knowledge. The confidence in being able to pick up the phone and get a capable expert at the other end at any time of the day made me pick GoDaddy,” she says. “The exceptional service support was a key differentiator in my mind, and made GoDaddy an obvious choice.”
Scaling up
With GoDaddy’s help, Caroline has been able to grow and scale her website, and any time she has questions while setting up new websites for her clients, they are often answered with just one call to the support team.
After partnering with GoDaddy for hosting and domain registration, Caroline has now added private registration, professional email with Office 365, Sitelock website security and SSL services.
She is also looking to expand her horizons by creating a new platform to empower and educate budding entrepreneurs.
“GoDaddy has given me the confidence that, with their assistance, I will launch this
new business venture as well,” she says. “In addition, I will also be looking to purchase products such as a private server to cater to my growing needs.”
