May 25, 2009 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – 1&1 Internet Inc., the world's largest web host by known servers, has announced the launch of a remarkable new service for creating a small business website - 1&1 MyBusiness Site. Addressing a wide range of small to medium businesses, the package greatly simplifies the creation of a website to just a few minutes without any need for website design experience. Specific designs are available for over 100 different business types. Companies can test the new product for free for 5 days. During the free trial companies can share their fully functioning, customized website online without risk. 1&1 MyBusiness Site, $9.99/month, addresses the need for an instant, achievable website for the many thousands of US small businesses still unable to present themselves online.
1&1 MyBusiness Site comprises a powerful and innovative way for a small company to launch a website, with many specialist business sectors included. Company information is inserted during the order process and used to create a fully assembled homepage. Relevant images, sample texts and tailored design elements are already populated within each website template – e.g. menus for restaurants or appointment requests for hairdressers. The content of the various pages can be edited online using any computer with an internet connection and without the need for software or a separate web page builder.
“Before developing 1&1 MyBusiness Site, we did some very detailed market analysis,” explains Oliver Mauss, CEO of 1&1 Internet. “As a result, it was clear that a lot of traditional hosting packages are simply too complicated to fulfill the needs of a great many small business owners.”
Research of over 1,800 small businesses[1] commissioned by 1&1, found that 40 percent are still without a company website. Some 24 percent of companies that do not currently have a website are interested in creating one but are concerned that existing offers are too complicated or costly. The most common reasons for not having a website are concerns about the time needed to create one (36 percent) and concerns as to whether having a website is necessary for their business (21 percent).
The development of 1&1 MyBusiness Site is based on the results of market research conducted across Europe and the USA. Professional design agencies were used to create individual templates for the business sectors included. Users are able to edit the content of their homepage directly from their website as easily as they could a Microsoft Word document. All data is stored in 1&1’s high-security data centers, so the business does not have to worry about backups.
“1&1 MyBusiness Site puts an end to complex feature lists which are usually associated with web hosting products,” explains Oliver Mauss. “Our research found that the endless feature lists are tiresome and confusing for a lot of business owners. That’s why 1&1 decided to radically change its approach - the number of pages, the web space and the traffic are unlimited. A small company should not have to worry about such technical details.”
Market analysis also showed that small companies commonly require professional support for the basic business processes within their website. 1&1 has integrated templates for appointments and contact requests, requests for products or services and brochures and product related queries – automatically generated from the choice of industry within the order process. Other features include pre-installed maps and directions and photo galleries.
Users can check the success of their website via the inclusive 1&1 WebStatistics tool. Modules for search engine optimization, implementation of RSS feeds, photo albums, YouTube video files and Flash animations are also included within the new product. Web professionals are free to edit the HTML code of their 1&1 MyBusiness Site.
1&1 MyBusiness Site is priced at $9.99/month with no set-up fee or minimum contract term. One domain name (.com, .net, .org, .biz, or .info) and personalized e-mail accounts are included for free. Companies can test the new product as a free trial, during which they can share their fully functioning, customized website online without risk.
Since 2003, 1&1 Internet Inc. has been at the forefront of encouraging US small businesses to adopt the Web. 1&1 is the one-stop-shop for web solutions, providing a high quality service with the security of our state-of-the-art green data centers and 24/7 technical support. 1&1’s green efforts will save carbon emissions of over 30,000 tons of CO2 per year. As the world’s largest web host, 1&1 is well placed to deliver a high quality service to its business customers. The company currently holds over 7.8 million customer contracts worldwide and manages over 10 million domain names.
