WEB-Preneuring

How you can boost biz by launching your
own website even if you are not tech-savvy.

THE BACK STORY ON 1&1 INTERNET


Founded in 1992, 1&1 Internet is the world's largest Web hosting provider by known servers. It's a global enterprise
Internationally, 1&1 maintains more than 6.84 million contracts with both consumer and business users and has registered some 8.8 million doman names. It operates 5 highly-secure data centers housing 40,000 servers that process more than 5 billion monthly emails.

Known for its comprehensive and affordable Internet products, 1&1's unique business model positions it as a one-stop Internet shop. From domain registration to web hosting, site creation, technical support and cutting edge technology, 1&1 offers users every available resource to easily and affordably create and maintain a web presence.

1&1 Internet, Inc. is a subsidiary of United Internet--a profitable public company with a market cap of $4 billion. Its U.S. headquarters is located in Chesterbrook, PA., a Philadelphia suburb.

Want to expand your business this year? If you don’t have a website you must get one! You need to take advantage of every selling tool available including websites, blogs and podcasts. Let’s get started by getting you your own site even if you lack the technical expertise to create it on your own.

1&1 Internet is the world’s largest web hosting provider by known servers with over 6.84 million customers. 1&1 currently serves 8.8 million domain names at its 40,000-server-strong worldwide data centers. The data centers assist in delivering 5 billion emails monthly. 1&1 Internet is a subsidiary of United Internet Group, a public company of some 3,000 employees.

With roots going back to 1988, 1&1 has pioneered the “one stop shop” approach to web solutions and develops new products quicker and at more affordable prices than many smaller providers. Due to 1&1’s scale and technical heritage, the company can deliver an unrivalled combination of value-added services and technological expertise.

The company was founded by Andreas Gauger, Chairman of the Board, 1 & 1 Internet. At the age of 16, Gauger started his first company to sell software. In 1989, Gauger commenced work as a programmer at systems supplier Hildenbrand Datesysteme. By 1990, the boy wonder had acquired a 33% share of the company.

In 1993, Gauger sold his shares in Hildenbrand Datesysteme and set up a software company. In 1995, Gauger founded Schlund + Partner with Rainer Schlund and became the managing director. In 1998, 1 & 1 (now United Internet) acquired a 66% stake in Schlund + Partner. Gauger was appointed CEO of the new company. In the year 2000, 1 & 1 was developed from yet another merger and Gauger was made Chairman of the Board.

1&1’s product portfolio caters for both the home user tackling the web for the first time and the professional web developer who requires industry-leading server specification. 1&1 offers a full range of domain names via its own domain name registrar, provides shared web hosting (Linux and MS) and dedicated servers (Linux, MS and Managed), virtual servers, eShops, MS Exchange and MS SharePoint. 1&1’s web-hosting packages have won awards worldwide for pushing boundaries with innovation and price.

An important aspect of 1&1 is the size of its R&D resource. 1&1 benefits from a 250-developer-strong R&D team, which means it can develop a lot of its own technologies. 1&1 hosting is unique in providing the user with an array of free applications for developing and marketing a website. These include website building, marketing and communication tools, as well as web content. The tools provide the smaller website owner with weapons traditionally the reserve of the web’s larger players.

1&1 has the ability to deliver the most affordable prices for both consumer and business level web solutions. Since 2003, 1&1 has become a large presence in the US web-hosting market, currently as the fifth largest web host in the nation. The company uses its economies of scale to its customers’ advantage. 1&1’s buying power, automation, scalability models and mass production methods allow the company to pass on the savings to the customer.

1&1’s US customer websites are hosted within the company’s state-of-the-art data center in Lenexa, Kansas, which uses a highly redundant system. Users benefit from 1&1’s superior data center environment, where all data is continually protected against fire, gas, water, and unauthorized access. 1&1 provides the security of 99.99% uptime and enjoys an industry-leading 40 GBit Connectivity via its own European backbone.

With web hosting, the quality of the service is paramount. The reliability of a service will largely depend on a vendor’s technical ability and infrastructures they have in place.

We asked Andreas Gauger, Chairman of the Board, 1&1 Internet Inc., to give us
some tips and insight on how to maximize web presence without minimizing cost. Here is his response and strategy to consider:

Are you ready to take your small business to the web? Nowadays every small business should be online. It has become increasingly clear that a professional web presence is imperative for survival in today’s competitive business world. At 1&1 Internet we surveyed 25,000 small businesses and found that 70 percent experienced an increase in sales revenue within the 12 months following the launch of their website. From the consumer perspective, over half (53 percent) said they would walk away from any business that does not have a website.

Clearly, maximizing your business’ web presence is likely to result in optimizing sales revenue.”

Surprisingly, the survey revealed a misconception among small business owners regarding the amount of work needed to build your own site. Seventy-three percent of business owners admitted they would not feel confident tackling a build-your-own website package. If you have not yet launched your business onto the Web, there is nothing to be scared about. Building a business website today can take as little as 30 minutes and does not require web-design knowledge. Small business owners can rest assured that hosting packages come fully stocked with point-and-click solutions for web design, communication, collaboration and e-commerce.

When purchasing a hosting package you will be pleasantly surprised that they are nowadays extremely affordable. For example, a 1&1 hosting package begins at less than $4 per month. Building your own site with user-friendly applications can end up saving a business thousands of dollars in outsourcing fees, and often pay for itself by increasing revenue.

One of the most important steps in building your website is selecting a domain name. A short and catchy name is always the best. Remember that your domain name is the online identity for your company, so take some time and get a second opinion before you make a final decision. With accumulated registrations under .com leading to increasingly complex domain names, alternative top-level domains (TLDs) such as .us, .biz and .info offer a greater number of attractive available names.

Now that your business has a name, it is time to build your website. For the novice, today’s web-hosting packages allow you to use templates to avoid programming altogether. Larger web hosts offer a greater selection to choose from. The template gives a formatted and professional look and there are various options that allow you to customize your website.

In building your own website do not feel limited to just creating an Internet home for your business—there are also simple ways to sell your products through your site. You can equip your website with a full e-commerce facility within minutes. Hosts like 1&1 offer an eShop priced from around $10 per month. Also created using templates, the eShop provides product catalogues enabling you to take orders through the site, safely collect credit card information and it even has PayPal functionality.