from E-Commerce Times: In a move to enhance its search and advertising businesses, Yahoo announced today it would offer free Web hosting to small businesses.
Yahoo Local general manager Paul Levine said, “As more and more consumers rely on the Internet for information about their neighborhood — from finding restaurants to plumbers to dry cleaners — local businesses are realizing the value of reaching potential customers online.”
Analysts expect that helping hand to be well received. According to The Kelsey Group, over 50 percent of the more than 20 million small businesses in the U.S. do not yet have a Web site.
Kelsey Group analyst Greg Sterling told the E-Commerce Times this is an attractive offer for small businesses because it removes a lot of barriers to adoption, like which host to use and how much storage space to purchase. And Yahoo’s template wizard makes it easy to set up a working site in a few steps.
