Sunnyvale, CA / December 9, 2002 / Yahoo! Inc. / Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - News), a leading global Internet company, today announced the launch of Yahoo!® Web Hosting (http://webhosting.yahoo.com), a business-class Web hosting service designed to meet the needs of small businesses. Leveraging more than five years of experience providing comprehensive services to small businesses and hosting the world's most trafficked Internet site, Yahoo! Web Hosting offers industry-leading security and reliability, exclusive product features, and easy-to-use tools and services, all at an exceptional value.
From establishing a business online to providing the benefits of true professional Web-enablement, Yahoo! Web Hosting offers services and solutions specifically designed to meet the needs of small businesses. The service offers three economically priced plans, with increasing levels of functionality -- from powerful site building tools, authoring tools and design templates that help businesses build a basic, high-quality Web presence to advanced PHP scripting and MySQL database services for businesses that need the utmost in flexibility, storage and administration of their Web site.
"Yahoo! is committed to being the only place a small business needs to go to be successful online. Yahoo! Web Hosting provides small businesses with reliable, trusted hosting solutions and access to e-commerce, promotion and distribution opportunities through Yahoo!'s powerful network," said Rich Riley, vice president and general manager, Yahoo! Small Business. "By providing essential business solutions and easy-to-use technology, Yahoo! enables small businesses to get online, sell online and market and promote online, all in one place."
According to The Yankee Group, the U.S. small- and medium-business shared-hosting market will reach $1.3 billion next year. Helen Chan, senior analyst, Small and Medium Business Technologies, The Yankee Group, said: "Yahoo! Web Hosting is a compelling solution whose value proposition small businesses can easily grasp. Hosting companies have traditionally intimidated mass-market SMBs with tech-speak laden with bits and bytes. Yahoo!'s approach and friendly user interface help to de-mystify Web hosting and empower small businesses with tangible tools to leverage the Internet in order to build market awareness, grow revenues, and better service customers. Yahoo!'s strong brand and network will go a long way to attract small business customers."
Small Business Choice For Hosting
A recent Harris Interactive® survey shows 31 percent of small business customers surveyed said they would select Yahoo! over the combined 20 percent who would select XO Communications, NTT/Verio or Interland. Also according to the survey, the top five qualities a small business looks for in a Web hosting provider include:
Reliability
Yahoo! Web Hosting network operations center is considered an industry benchmark for security, integrity, performance and reliability;
Cost
Yahoo! Web Hosting offers a variety of packages at competitive price points to address the needs of the small business market;
Customer Service
Yahoo! Web Hosting provides a dedicated team of customer service representatives committed to providing the highest-quality of service toll free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week;
Trust
72 percent of small businesses surveyed "trust" Yahoo! to host their website (Source: Yahoo! Internal Survey, Spring 2002);
Brand
Among the small business audience, Yahoo! has the highest brand strength and stature of any online company (BAV USA 2001 Small Business Target).
As a current Yahoo! Web Hosting customer, Sylvia Choueri, owner and manager of Syl's Salon & Spa in New Jersey (http://syls-salon.com), said: "Yahoo! Web Hosting creates instant visibility for my salon and spa. Before I set up my site I was only reaching local customers. Now, because of Yahoo!'s incredible distribution, I am taking orders from around the world. I was able to create my site using Yahoo! Web Hosting's authoring tools, which are so easy to use, anyone can do it. Finally, Yahoo! Web Hosting provides an affordable service that is accessible to the non-technical public."
Harris Interactive Methodology
The Harris Interactive survey, fielded from Sept. 11 to 16, 2002, was conducted online using a targeted nationwide sample of 252 adults (18+), business owners and senior executives from small businesses with less than 100 employees. The businesses had to have an online e-commerce presence.
About Yahoo! Small Business
Yahoo!® Small Business (http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com), a leading provider of online services for small businesses, has been providing tools and services to address the small business lifecycle for more than five years. Yahoo!'s small business customers have access to a wide breadth and depth of essential services including fundamental needs such as business class email and domain registration, to more sophisticated commerce applications, such as store hosting, shopping distribution, and targeted self-service advertising, to reach the right audience in Yahoo!'s leading global network.
About Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is a leading provider of comprehensive online products and services to consumers and businesses worldwide. Yahoo! reaches more than 237 million individuals worldwide each month, and is the No. 1 Internet brand globally. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Yahoo!'s global network includes 25 World properties and is available in 13 languages.