1&1 enables powerful Search Engine Marketing for thousands of UK small businesses

[NewsDesk]

- 1&1 and Yahoo! Search Marketing deliver solution to hosting customers
- Targeted banner advertising tool powered by AdLINK

Thousands of UK small and medium sized businesses will have access to lucrative online marketing that they were previously denied, following the latest launch from 1&1 Internet, the world's largest web host by known servers. 1&1 Search Marketing (powered by Yahoo! Search Marketing) provides new 1&1 hosting customers with a powerful solution for pay-per-click sponsored search and is specifically designed for smaller budgets often refused by large search engines. 1&1 customers will also benefit from 1&1 Banner Advertising, a tool for regional and themed banner ad campaigns.

From today, 1&1 Search Marketing (powered by Yahoo! Search Marketing), supplied with all shared hosting packages from £4.99/month+VAT, enables UK SMEs to run sponsored search marketing campaigns on major search engines and highly trafficked websites across the Yahoo! Search Marketing network. The solution is easy to use and removes the need to negotiate with vendors or agencies. Using their 1&1 Control Panel, a user submits a list of keywords for their advertisement text and makes an offer for each of the keywords. The position of the user's listing will be ranked according to a number of different factors. Costs only accrue the moment a visitor clicks on an advertised website (pay-per-click).

1&1 Search Marketing (powered by Yahoo! Search Marketing) provides monthly reports on rankings and bids as well as competitors' keywords. The solution incorporates daily or monthly budgets, with no minimum term contract and all billing simply added to the user's 1&1 hosting charges. Customers will also receive an Online Marketing Manual of advice on how to run a successful campaign, and an initial £50 Yahoo! Search Marketing voucher.

Andreas Gauger, CEO 1&1 Internet, said "We are delighted to have partnered with Yahoo! Search Marketing, the pioneer of paid search, to provide this ground-breaking feature. 1&1 strives to push the boundaries of web hosting and equip the smaller website owner with the best chance of attracting and retaining visitors".

1&1 has also partnered with AdLINK Internet Media Ltd to provide all new hosting customers with 1&1 Banner Advertising. The tool provides an integrated solution for UK small businesses to design and place targeted banner advertisements, traditionally the reserve of large companies and advertising agencies. 1&1 customers design their banner using the ULEAD GIF animator supplied, and place their banners using the AdLINK partner network. Users are charged by page impressions on a monthly basis. Banners can be placed for a regional impact, using local websites such as radio stations, local newspapers etc, or by theme upon relevant mainstream websites and portals. Regional targeting is also achieved by locating website visitors by means of IP-analysis.

Customers signing up for web hosting from £8.99/month+VAT, will receive between 2,000 and 10,000 free page impressions. AdLINK's banner advertising service is available to 1&1 customers at discounted rates. Users choose between 1,000 page impressions per month, priced at £4.99/month+VAT, or 10,000 impressions per month, priced at £39.99/month+VAT.

Gauger added, "Our Search Marketing and Banner Advertising features provide small businesses with effective weapons to conquer the web. Every small business can now afford to run a scalable online marketing strategy and compete like larger online players".

Furthermore, 1&1 hosting customers now also receive Google Site Maps and 1&1 SimpleSubmission tools to support their submission into the major search engines. 1&1 eShop customers also benefit from having their products listed within Froogle and Pangora directories.

For more information on 1&1 Internet Ltd visit the website at www.1and1.co.uk

About 1&1 Internet Ltd
1&1 Internet Ltd based in Slough, west of London, is Europe's No.1 web hosting and domain name registration company. 1&1 Internet Ltd is the UK arm of 1&1 Internet AG based in Germany (a subsidiary of United Internet Group, a public company of some 6,000 employees). 1&1 was established in 1992 and holds over 5.8 million British, German, French, Austrian and US customer contracts and serves some 7 million domain names at its 37,000 server strong European Data Centres. 1&1 prides itself on being the one-stop-shop for web solutions.

1&1 Internet Ltd entered the UK domain registration and web hosting market in June 2000. As a well funded profitable company, it is in a strong position to deliver a high quality service at low cost. 1&1 is an accredited Registrar with ICANN (.com), Nominet (.co.uk), Afilias (.info) and NeuLevel (.biz). 1&1 are also Microsoft Joint Development Partners being the first to launch Microsoft .NET Server 2003 hosting in Europe.

About Yahoo! Search Marketing
Yahoo! Search Marketing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Yahoo! Inc., offers essential marketing services for companies doing business online. The company's search-based products and tools help businesses connect with highly motivated customers. Yahoo! Search Marketing has offices across Europe, Asia, Australia, South-America and US.

About AdLINK Internet Media Ltd
AdLINK markets online advertising space and digital marketing concepts. With 15 offices in 10 European countries and the USA, AdLINK is one of the leading independent European suppliers in the online marketing segment. Cooperation agreements in Latin America, Asia and the USA enable AdLINK's customers to benefit from the strength of a global advertising network. AdLINK products include communication solutions for brand building and brand management (AdLINK Branding Solutions), performance-based digital marketing (Response Republic) and e-mail marketing (Composite Digital Media). With the acquisition of Sedo GmbH and affilinet GmbH, AdLINK is also active in the growing segments of domain marketing and affiliate marketing. With over 3 billion page impressions per month, affilinet has the highest reach of all online sales channels based on affiliate programs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Sedo is the European market leader for domain marketing and the global market leader in secondary domain trading with some 1,8 million internet domains.

For 1&1 Internet Ltd:
Richard Stevenson
1&1 Internet Ltd
Tel. 0044 (0) 1753 490 435
press@1and1.co.uk

For Yahoo! Search Marketing:
Angela Bloor
Yahoo! Search Marketing
Tel. 0044 (0)20 7131 1810
vbloora@yahoo-inc.com

For AdLINK Internet Media Ltd:
AdLINK Internet Media Ltd
Tel. 0049 (0) 207 400 9250
presse@adlink.net