IDG News Service - Yahoo Inc. is further expanding its premium services by offering Web hosting packages for small businesses, replete with corporate e-mail accounts, site-building tools, storage and design templates.
The Web hosting services are being offered at "starter," "standard" and "professional" levels, but all three packages are aimed at small organizations that require easy-to-use tools and services.
Officially launched today, the Web hosting packages are just the latest in a range of premium services aimed at diversifying the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company's business. Yahoo has also rolled out premium e-mail and corporate instant messaging services, which have helped to move its finances into the black.
Yahoo said the Web hosting offerings are meant to build on its five years of experience offering small-business services.
The Business Starter package includes 10 personal e-mail addresses, 50MB of storage and 20GB of data transfer for $11.95 a month, with a $15 setup fee. The Standard plan offers 25 e-mail accounts, 100MB of storage, 25GB of data transfer and 24-hour, seven-day-a-week customer support for $19.95 a month plus a $25 setup fee. The Professional plan offers 35 e-mail accounts, 350MB of storage, 35GB of data transfer and customer service for $39.95 a month plus a $25 setup fee.
The packages offer different levels of functionality, such as site-building and authoring tools, design templates, Hypertext Preprocessor scripting and MySQL database services, Yahoo said.
The Starter plan, for instance, lets businesses use SiteWizards to build a static, multipage Web site with no coding required. Customers who choose the Standard or Professional plans, however, can use templates or write their own code.
Yahoo has made the small business market one of its key focuses, offering domains, online storefronts and targeted advertising services. With the integrated Web hosting tools and services, the company is hoping to grab more of the growing small-business market and become a one-stop online service provider.
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