Of those surveyed, 44 per cent of 16-34 year olds said they will be celebrating St Patrick’s Day this year, whilst only 34 per cent will celebrate St George’s Day, 13 per cent St Andrew’s Day and 9 per cent celebrated St David’s Day.

However, despite overshadowing St George in the celebrations of patron saints, research by 123-Reg also showed that St Patrick’s Day is only the third most popular celebration in the UK compared with other holidays from around the globe.

55 per cent of respondents aged 16-34 said Mother’s Day, which originates from Greece, was the most important holiday from around the globe, 19 per cent opted for American holiday Halloween, whilst 8 per cent voted for St Patrick’s Day.

Thomas Vollrath, chief executive of 123-Reg comments, “There is a large emphasis on Mother’s Day in the UK, and so perhaps it’s no surprise that this celebration is seen as so important. However, St Patrick’s Day was voted as being a more important celebration than well-recognised holidays such as Father’s Day and Thanksgiving – this demonstrates just how highly regarded St Patrick’s Day is here in the UK.

“One of the most popular domain names we sell to 16 – 34 year olds is the .me, which is a domain name associated with personal and friendly websites. With the Irish often being referred to as one of the friendliest nations, it seems fitting that this age group is so keen to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.”

To add to this year’s St Patrick‘s Day celebrations, 123-Reg is offering .me domain names for £4.44 between 15 – 19 March, a saving of £10.55.

About 123-reg

123-reg is one of the UK´s top registrars, registering every fourth .co.uk domain. It leads the market in both domain name registration (2.3 million domains) and web hosting solutions. With extensive experience of the industry, the company is able to offer high quality, technically advanced yet cost-effective products to a wide range of customers. 123-reg was voted most popular domain name provider by Domain Directory for five consecutive months during 2009.

www.123-reg.co.uk is part of the UK’s leading web hosting group and Sunday Times Deloitte Buyout Track 100 (2010) company, Webfusion (www.corporate.webfusion.co.uk). The group also consists of www.webfusion.co.uk, www.donhost.co.uk and www.supanames.co.uk, each making every step of setting up online as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Follow 123-reg on Twitter – http://twitter.com/123Reg

This comes following a survey, conducted by 123-Reg, which highlighted that 78 per cent of consumers are less likely to buy from a website if its domain name doesn’t end in their country’s code (.co.uk for the UK, .pl for Poland).  Of the consumers surveyed, 41 per cent said the reason for this was concerns over being able to resolve order issues as easily, should they arise. This was followed by 25 per cent of people surveyed who said fears surrounding payment security would prevent them buying from a website that didn’t end in their country’s extension.

Thomas Vollrath, chief executive of 123-Reg explains, “Many small businesses that have survived the recent economic downturn, may be looking to widen the net by tapping into fast growth nations such as Mexico and India. But if they fail to register a localised domain name, there’s nothing stopping a competitor from snapping up your company’s domain name and potentially damaging your brand’s reputation. In addition, as the survey results have indicated, businesses trading abroad could also risk being overlooked by potential customers, who we know prefer to buy from websites which correspond with the country they live in.”

In the last ten years internet usage around the world has increased dramatically. For example China, which has the strongest country code domain (.cn), had just over 2 million internet users in 1998 compared with almost 300 million in 2008. Similarly in 1998 there were 8 million internet users in Germany, which has the second strongest country code domain (.de), and over 60 million ten years later.

Thomas Vollrath concludes, “The rapid growth of internet users across the globe in the last decade has created great opportunities for businesses, however these businesses risk alienating customers and damaging the strength of their brands if their websites end in extensions that do not correspond with the country they’re trading in – for example .mx for Mexico, .pl for Poland and .in for India. A .co.uk domain name is a must have for any British business but developing your domain name portfolio to ensure your web address has a registered country code for each country you’re trading in, or may trade in in the future, is a savvy and cost effective way to ensure your brand isn’t confused or website overlooked. And with global domains from £14.99 per year, it makes smart business sense.”

Other reasons for avoiding making a purchase from a website ending in a foreign domain included concerns over return policies (10 per cent) and a desire to support their own country’s economy (7 per cent). .

About 123-reg

123-reg is one of the UK´s top registrars, registering every fourth  .co.uk domain. It leads the market in both domain name registration (2.3 million domains) and web hosting solutions. With extensive experience of the industry, the company is able to offer high quality, technically advanced yet cost-effective products to a wide range of customers. 123-reg was voted most popular domain name provider by Domain Directory for five consecutive months during 2009.

www.123-reg.co.uk is part of the UK’s leading web hosting group and Sunday Times Deloitte Buyout Track 100 (2010) company, Webfusion (www.corporate.webfusion.co.uk). The group also consists of www.webfusion.co.uk, www.donhost.co.uk and www.supanames.co.uk, each making every step of setting up online as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Follow 123-reg on Twitter – http://twitter.com/123Reg

08 February 2010 – Leading webhosting provider, Webfusion, has today been ranked 28th in the Sunday Times Deloitte Buyout Track 100 league table, designed to highlight Britain’s 100 private equity-backed companies with the fastest-growing profits (EBITDA).

Webfusion, which is the only hosting industry representative to be featured within the league table, is one of the UK’s leading web hosting groups with 1.4 million hosted websites and 2.2 million registered domains. Despite the recession, and at a time when other companies were cutting costs to stay afloat, Webfusion grew its business model, adding more products to its portfolio and strengthening its market share by investing in infrastructure and expanding headcount.

In addition, Webfusion invested in training and developing its UK based support teams to set higher service level standards and created a dedicated social media liaison officer to engage with customers through websites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Thomas Vollrath, managing director of Webfusion explains, “We are thrilled to be ranked 28th within The Sunday Times Deloitte Buyout Track 100, which is a hugely prestigious recognition of our efforts throughout one of the most challenging economic years on record. Where many companies have been trying to do more with less, cutting costs and reducing standards to weather the storm, we’ve taken a different and more risky approach by investing in our service offerings and improving customer support. And it certainly seems to have paid off.

“We have been working closely with our sister company Host Europe to ensure that our combined resources deliver an industry leading product portfolio ranging from domains all the way to virtualised servers and customised managed hosting. We remain dedicated to the millions of customers whose web presence relies on us.”
The average Buyout Track 100 company has profit growth ranging from 15 per cent pa to 140 per cent pa, with profits ranging between £3m and £50m; sales ranging between £20m and £1bn; and at least 20 per cent of the of listed companies are owned.

Buyout Track 100 is compiled by Fast Track and published in The Sunday Times each February, with an awards event in March and regional dinners throughout the year.

About Webfusion
Webfusion Ltd is one of the UK’s leading web hosting groups with 1.4 million hosted websites and 2.2 million registered domains.

Ranked 28th in 2010’s Sunday Times Deloitte Buyout Track 100, Webfusion offers cost-effective, feature-rich hosting packages for a diverse customer-base – from web developers, designers and hobbyists to businesses with complex e-commerce operations. Winner of 2009’s SYB Award for Best Small Business Web Hosting Provider, Webfusion’s customers benefit from market-leading security and service including: 24×7 technical support, robust Firewall server protection, one click installation, access to FTP accounts and a state-of-the-art data centre.

The Webfusion group also consists of www.123-reg.co.uk, www.donhost.co.uk and www.supanames.co.uk. For more information, please visit www.corporate.webfusion.co.uk

Follow Webfusion on Twitter – http://twitter.com/webfusionUK

So what’s the catch? And that’s the best part – there isn’t one! As part of Microsoft’s DreamSpark programme, 123-Reg will be offering anyone with a .ac.uk email address everything they need to get started on a web project, including 12 months hosting, a .info domain name and access to the full versions of industry standard Microsoft software.  And all for the grand total of £14.10 per year, including VAT.

Launched by Bill Gates in February 2008, Microsoft DreamSpark provides professional-level tools that enable students to explore the power of software and encourage them to forge the next wave of software-driven breakthroughs. Lars Lindstedt, Software Economist, Microsoft UK, says “We want to do everything we can to equip a new generation of leaders with the knowledge and tools they need to harness the magic of software to improve lives, solve problems and spur economic growth. This partnership with 123-Reg offers students an amazing package to help them put their ideas into action.”

But you don’t have to be Bill Gates or half way through a computer science degree to get started. 123-Reg’s Plus shared web hosting student offer includes plenty of features which make it easy to build a website, so if you’ve got an idea for something you want to create online, doing it is as easy as 1 2 3. However, if you are a bit of a techy and are fed up with battling it out for time on the machines in the IT labs – this is also a cheap and easy way to get software like Visual Studio, SQL Server and Expression Studio on your own PC. Pure genius.

Thomas Vollrath, Managing Director of 123-Reg explains, “With the rising cost of living and tuition fees eating into students’ pockets, it’s great to know that there are still a few genuine bargains out there. And when you think of what else you can buy for a pound these days – a loaf of bread, some bin bags or a pint of watered down beer on Student Night – this offer really is too good to be missed.

“Whether you’re looking to promote your band and get a few gigs under your belt, learn to write in HTML or want to earn a bit of cash through an ecommerce site – it’s all possible, it’s all easy and it’s all cheap!”

To sign up for student hosting, register here with your .ac.uk email address, then follow the instructions to get the special offer.

About 123-reg

123-reg is one of the UK´s top registrars, registering every fifth .co.uk domain. It leads the market in both domain name registration (2.2 million domains) and web hosting solutions. With extensive experience of the industry, the company is able to offer high quality, technically advanced yet cost-effective products to a wide range of customers. 123-reg was voted most popular domain name provider by Domain Directory for five consecutive months during 2009.

www.123-reg.co.uk is part of the UK’s leading web hosting group, Webfusion. The group also consists of www.webfusion.co.uk, www.corporate.webfusion.co.uk. www.donhost.co.uk and www.supanames.co.uk, each making every step of setting up online as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Follow 123-reg on Twitter – http://twitter.com/123Reg

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft® is the wordwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential. For further information visit www.microsoft.com/presspass.