July 8, 2009 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) –
AIT has launched a no-cost “ad-free” web hosting account http://www.ait.com/free-web-hosting to provide businesses and individuals with a free website for life at their own domain name to enhance the visibility of its core products and services and the tyBit – Unified Search engine (www.tyBit.com). “It’s pretty straightforward. Anyone looking for a web hosting account to host their own domain can call us and get setup in minutes. Our goal is to introduce both AIT and tyBit to a wider audience by giving away free web hosting accounts,” said, Avery Skelton VP of Sales & Marketing for AIT.
There is one free hosting account per customer. Those who sign up receive ample disk space, bandwidth, control panel as well as additional features to enhance their web presence. The company stated that it anticipates hundreds of new signups weekly as a result of the stunning initiative. “This is a limited time promo that we will run to help smaller clients get through these difficult economic times,” said Skelton.
There is nothing new about the “Free Movement” on the Internet. Free is also the subject of new book by Wired editor Chris Anderson, “Free: The Future of a Radical Price,” which got its first big review this week, by Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker, a media moment that’s provided much entertainment to observers. There are four strands of argument in Anderson’s thesis. The claim that digital infrastructure is effectively Free, consumers love Free, Free means never having to say you’re sorry or make a judgment, and a commercial claim that a market created by the technological Free and the psychological Free can make you a lot of money.
However the only problem is that in the middle of laying out what he sees as the new business model of the digital age, Anderson is forced to admit that one of his main case studies, YouTube, “has so far failed to make any money for Google.” Gladwell definitely sees the weaknesses in Anderson’s arguments and is able to pick them apart fairly easily. Clarence Briggs, CEO of AIT believes that Anderson’s critics have it all wrong. “In any competitive market competition pushes prices down to their marginal cost. It’s true for the PC industry, domain registration and eventually basic, simple web hosting. Competition is going to push prices down to zero margin and keep them there. That is why constant innovation and change are essential such as complex or reseller web hosting,” said Briggs. “As for Anderson’s critics, their arguments are moot. (Should we want Free to be the future?) is a dumb question. Who cares what we want? It is. The first browser and all that followed were free, and look what that has done,” said Briggs.
“A lot of criticism simply misses that the “free” business model isn’t just about giving stuff away and hoping for a miracle. It’s about leveraging the free stuff to sell complementary goods in a way that benefits both buyer and seller,” said Sean McCoy, Senior VP of sales and marketing at AIT. McCoy pointed out that their new, free customers like it enough to purchase additional services from the web host and domain registrar. “I called in and got my hosting account setup in minutes,” said Rod Herrick an art student from Kansas City. “I logged in and now I’m working on a local web site for a non-profit,” continued Herrick. “I think it’s great that companies like AIT are offering a hand up to folks who are strapped for cash. When I needed some technical help installing a 3rd party application, they only charged me a one-time $10 fee that I gladly paid. A professional webmaster would have charged a heck of a lot more.” For those who wish to establish their free web hosting account simply visit http://www.ait.com/free-web-hosting or call the company at 1-800-878-4084. The free hosting account comes with a special introductory offer to register a keyword with tyBit and lock it in for 30 days in order to drive relevant traffic to the website.
