 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Web services |
| Founded | October 1997 Menlo Park, California, U.S. |
| Founders | Justin S. Kitch Thai Bui David Wu |
| Headquarters | Palo Alto, CA, U.S. |
Key people | Justin S. Kitch (Chairman and CEO) |
| Services | Web hosting service E-commerce services Online advertising |
| Revenue | US$6.67 million [1] |
Number of employees | 116 (2015) |
| Parent | Intuit Inc. (2007-2012) EIG (2012-present) |
| Website | www |
Homestead Technologies Inc. is a web hosting company based in Burlington, Massachusetts.
Homestead offers its members WYSIWIG tools to build and publish their own websites. [2]
Since its founding as a free service provider, Homestead has expanded the scope of its services to include online marketing, paid search ads, SEO tools, and e-commerce services. [2] [3]
Homestead is geared mostly towards small business owners, non-profit administrators, retailers, and hobbyists, unlike competitors such as Angelfire and Yahoo! GeoCities, who target more casual users.[ citation needed ]
In October 1997, Justin S. Kitch and Thai Bui founded Homestead, in Menlo Park, California. The company quickly became popular due to its accessibility and ease of use. Its proprietary drag-and-drop SiteBuilder [4] platform enabled users with no prior knowledge of coding or web programming to create fully functioning websites for personal, educational, or business use. [5]
In June 1998, the company launched Homestead.com, which enabled Internet users to build a website, with a focus on small businesses, e-commerce, and their related services, such as consulting, listings, and online business directories.[ citation needed ]
By October 1999 member registrations reached two million.[ citation needed ]
In October 2003, Homestead Technologies launched PhotoSite, a photo sharing and web hosting service tailored to amateur digital photography. [6]
In March 2005, PhotoSite was sold to United Online. [7]
In December 2007, Homestead was acquired by financial and tax preparation software giant Intuit for US$170 million to bolster its web hosting offerings. [8]
On August 16, 2012, Intuit announced that Homestead would be purchased by web hosting company Endurance International Group of Burlington, Massachusetts. [9]
And Homestead makes it easy for all parties involved: Companies provide content tools they have already developed--such as search boxes and news and stock tickers--to Homestead; Homestead lets users pick any tools they like and drag and drop them onto their personal pages. Homestead, which uses a proprietary technology to track all of this, then receives a fee each time someone clicks through one of the branded buttons, according to Dana Rositano, director of consumer marketing for Homestead Technologies, the parent of Homestead.com.