The Aplus.Net Blog: Commentary and Industry Insight by Nathan Denny

Welcome to the Net Report, Aplus.Net’s new blog. Here, I’ll run down some of the Internet’s new developments on a regular basis. The goal is to help keep you, the valued Aplus.Net customer, informed and empowered so you can stay on top of the competition. I’ll do this by bringing you information from across the Internet that you might not have time to gather yourself.

First of all, let’s discuss Aplus.Net. Whether you’re a new customer of ours or someone who’s been with us for years, you’ve most likely viewed us just as a source for web hosting. That’s fine. We’re extremely proud to be one of the United State’s leading web hosts, an award-winning company that offers high value at low prices and backs it up with great technology and support. We’re happy to provide the best web hosting in the industry, and we’re always working to improve it. That will always be our focus.

And yet, there’s so much more about Aplus.Net that we want you to know about.

At Aplus.Net, we’re committed to being the only online partner you’ll ever need. Other companies provide hosting—Aplus.Net provides web presence. What does that mean? It means we can help you build your business and win new customers through top-notch web design, search engine optimization, eTraffic, and other sales and marketing tools—all engineered to take full advantage of the Internet’s unique and almost unlimited opportunities. Basically, we take care of the tech chores while you concentrate on doing what you do best—running your business.

We also offer top-notch design, dedicated servers, online marketing, e-commerce, domain name registration, and much more. We’ve received many awards for excellence, including the prestigious CNET Editors’ Choice Award. We’ve also been featured in some of the United States’ top. business publications—including Forbes, Entrepreneur, Black Enterprise, and PC Magazine.

But most importantly, Aplus.Net has a mission: to support America’s small businesses, and help nurture their online success.

More than 75 percent of Aplus.Net’s current customer base comes from small businesses—companies, in fact, with fewer then five employees. As the product of a successful small business start-up, we at Aplus.Net take the future of small business in the United States very seriously.

In the Expert Opinion article from Aplus.Net’s September newsletter, I included a quote from the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) about the importance of small businesses to the U.S. economy. Since it’s relevant, I’d like to re-post it here.

“Small business drives the U.S. economy by providing jobs for over half of the private workforce … Data and research shows that small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all firms, they create more than half of the private non-farm gross domestic product, and they create 60 to 80 percent of the net new jobs … In 2004, there were an estimated 23,974,500 businesses in the U.S. Of the 5,683,700 firms with employees, 5,666,600 were small firms (fewer than 500 employees) … American entrepreneurs are creative and productive, and these numbers prove it.”1

Now that we’re properly introduced, I’d like to speak to you about Aplus.Net’s position on net neutrality and how that affects not only the Internet, but the status of small businesses in America. We’ll go over that in the next Net Report.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for choosing Aplus.Net. I’m always happy to hear your feedback. Please send your comments to nathand@aplus.net.

Sources:
1. Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA): Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories, 2005 Edition. August 4, 2005. Retrieved from http://www.sba.gov/advo/press/05-37.html