December 20, 2004 -- The growth of the Internet as an economic and social force continued this year and now, nearly 70-million domain names are registered worldwide. At the same time, millions of small businesses in the US still lack web sites, cutting themselves off from a potential global market and also limiting their reach domestically. AIT, Inc (http://ait.com) provides free domain registration with each hosting account. “This is a no-risk means of establishing an online identity, so business owners can see for themselves the value of reaching new markets,” said Clarence Briggs, AIT’s Chief Executive Officer. “Their only investment is the monthly hosting fee and that’s as small as pennies per day; the domain name can be theirs forever.”
Reports on online sales have, naturally, focused on the holiday season and consumers will spend nearly 20-billion dollars in digital purchases this year, according to comScore Networks. That would be a 63% increase over last year’s holidays. “Even consumers who don’t buy online use the Internet for research, comparing vendors and prices, and looking beyond their local market for the best deal,” said the company’s COO Kirk deViere. “Companies without a web presence take themselves out of the game before it even begins.”
As domains come up for renewal, businesses would pay a fee to retain them but a year’s worth of exposure to the Internet should be ample evidence of the web’s worth. “In terms of return on investment, no vehicle provides as great a ratio as an Internet presence,” said Briggs, “unless businesses don’t want to participate in a venue where tens of billions of dollars in transactions occur.”
Alex Lekas
VP / Corporate Communications
AIT, Inc. (http://www.ait.com)
910-321-1247
