A screenshot of the GeoCities homepage, which informs visitors that new accounts are no longer available.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com) is quietly closing down the long-standing free web hosting service GeoCities (geocities.yahoo.com), according to a report that appeared today on TechCrunch.
A notice appearing on the GeoCities homepage says accounts are no longer available, adding, “after careful consideration, we have decided to close GeoCities later this year,” and promising to share more details later this summer.
GeoCities, perhaps the most well known of the free web hosting services that were extremely popular in the late 90s and the early part of this decade, was acquired by Yahoo! for $2.87 billion in 1999. While these free hosting services certainly represent a milestone in the development of an audience for hosting services in general, their popularity has dissipated in the time since, partly due to the development of specialized social media services such as Flickr and Facebook.
An FAQ information page encourages users to sign up for paid Yahoo! web hosting accounts – which cost $11.95 per month after the first three months at a reduced rate – saying that all GeoCities sites will be closed later this year.
According to the TechCrunch report, traffic to GeoCities has been falling, decreasing by approximately 24 percent over the past year.
With a little more fanfare, Yahoo! announced on Thursday that its Yahoo! Small Business division has launched a new “advocate program” for its web hosting and merchant solutions products.
The advocate program is in the fairly familiar affiliate program model, providing a 45 percent recurring commission to partners who refer new customers to Yahoo! Small business.
According to a chart on the advocate program page, the average tenure of a customer of either service is 18 months, which would translate to $98 for hosting and $328 for merchant services.
About Liam Eagle
Liam Eagle has worked as a contributor to the Web Host Industry Review since its inception in 2000, and as editor since 2003. He has been editor of the WHIR's print magazine since its launch. His daily involvement in the gathering and reporting of Web hosting news and his regular interaction with Web hosting leaders gives him an uncommonly broad appreciation of the issues and tends facing the business. Through his WHIR blog, Liam spots Web hosting trends and offers opinions on the industry-wide impacts of major developments and the motivation behind big announcements. Follow him on Twitter @liameagle
No related posts.
