C
I Host Survey Shows Huge Advantage For Small Businesses
With Websites [September 29, 2004]
FORT
WORTH (September 29, 2004) - Having a Web site greatly
improves the ability of small and medium-sized businesses
to attract customers and sell their goods and services,
according to a recent phone survey by C I Host, a global
leader in Web hosting and Internet solutions.
Of
the 5,000 small U.S. businesses that C I Host surveyed
between May 1 and July 31, some 99 percent said they
had received new customers from their web site and 81
per cent said their revenues and profitability increased
due to the Web site.
All
of the companies had been in business more than 5 years
at the time of the survey and had launched their Web
site within the past year. Each had fewer than 15 employees
and revenue of more than $100,000 a year.
"Having
a web site is a critical driving force behind any business'
success in the current economic climate," said
Christopher Faulkner, CEO of C I Host. "Through
a Web site a company can reach new territories, find
new customers and achieve levels of profitability not
thought possible before."
The
study compared the company's business before and after
adding the potential of eCommerce through their Web
site. The group included C I Host customers and those
who used other Web hosts.
Of
those surveyed, 60 per cent said they thought their
web site improved their competitive position within
their market space and 51 percent said the Web site
brought in customers and accounts that previously hadn't
been targeted by their sales force.
"These
companies were brick and mortar and within 12 months
of becoming click and order they saw huge increases
in their businesses," Faulkner said. "Nearly
19 per cent said they sold goods or services to companies
outside the United States for the first time because
of their Web site."
The
25 million small and medium sized businesses are growing
rapidly in the United States and account for a large
share of the growing economy.
C
I Host's eBusiness in a box enables a small or medium
sized businesses to be online and making money through
their Web sites within days.
--About C I Host--
C
I Host (www.cihost.com), based in the Dallas/Fort Worth
market, is a Web hosting and Internet solutions provider,
domain name registrar (DNR) and application service
provider (ASP) serving 210,000 individual consumers
and businesses in 190 countries worldwide.
C
I Host creates business-class Web hosting solutions
for the small- and medium-enterprise (SME) market, with
the broadest portfolio of managed hosting and value-added
services in the industry. C I Host is accredited by
ICANN to register domain names.
C I Host is HIPAA-compliant and has
passed the SAS70 Type I audit.
C
I Host has been ranked #1 in speed by the Adoloma Web
Hosting Guide. C I Host has been consistently ranked
among the Top 5 Web hosting companies out of 16,000
around the globe by c|net's Ultimate Web Host List,
HostPulse, WebHostsOnline.com and HostChart.com. C I
Host was named among the Top 25 Web hosting companies
by HostIndex.com.
C
I Host offers turn-key services ranging from initial
domain name registration to custom dedicated servers
for e-commerce on today's Web. The company offers innovative
packages and services to the Internet community.
C
I Host operates three diverse data centers across the
United States, with its main facility and Network Operations
Center in Bedford, Texas. C I Host also has offices
in Los Angeles, Chicago and London.
All
telco-grade, tier-1 data centers are wholly owned and
operated by C I Host and consist of redundant diesel
generator backups and a temperature-controlled secure
environment with fully redundant UPS capability. All
server hardware is fully tested and configured for optimal
performance. Daily Web server backups and full fire
protection guard against any data loss. To deliver speed
and reliability, C I Host's servers are connected to
two OC-12 fiber connections, five DS-3 and two OC-3
lines from five diverse Internet backbones for a total
of more than 5 Gigabits of available bandwidth.
###
Editorial Contact:
D. Kent Pingel
Public Relations Director
C I Host
888-868-9931 ext. 7006
kentp@cihost.com |
