HolyCityWeb.com launches new site
Wednesday,
October 11, 2000
By JONATHAN MAZE
Of The Post and Courier staff
Instead of a ribbon-cutting to open its
new business, HolyCityWeb.com held a launching ceremony
on Tuesday, complete with Charleston Mayor Joe Riley
clicking a mouse to officially start the site.
HolyCityWeb.com gears itself
as a site that provides local businesses with an
inexpensive and simple way to sell goods on the
Web, while providing consumers with a series of
sites through which to access local businesses.
It's the first in what
parent company DCSky hopes to be many such sites
in mid-size cities nationwide as it tries to localize
the Internet.
"We want to reinvent the
Internet to a local perspective," said DCSky CEO
Buddy Varn.
HolyCityWeb.com is a series
of Web sites, each with a different specialty.
One of them is a site that
lists Charleston-area businesses that are members
of HolyCityWeb. Users can search for companies,
each of which has a quarter-page "storefront" site
that can stand on its own or lead people to the
business's private Web site.
Another site features businesses'
sales or promotions. Yet another site is a local
version of Priceline.com, allowing users to requests
products by price.
Others list businesses
by logo, allow users to access global Web sites
or buy overstock or clearance items on sale locally.
"We want to make sure local
businesses don't get crushed by some giant site,"
said Wayne Caparas, the company's creative director.
The company plans to make
money by charging a $45-a-month maintenance fee.
While officials say they want businesses of all
sizes to use the site, it is clearly geared to those
that are smaller.
DCSky also plans to make
money by designing companies' private, full-size
Web sites.
By next year, DCSky hopes
to have similar sites in Savannah, Columbia and
the Myrtle Beach area.
Jonathan Maze
covers the business of health care. He can be reached
at 937-5719 or jmaze@postandcourier.com.
|
