Gulfport, MS- Are you tired of seeing national companies monopolize the Internet? Well so are the owners of Mississippi.com, and they have decided to do something about, at least in Mississippi.

"We design and host a lot of web sites for businesses in the state," said Chad Clarke, Co-Owner of CCF Consulting, Inc., the parent company of Mississippi.com. "And one of the biggest problems that our clients face is getting people to their web sites. Yahoo! and Google are great search engines, but not if you want to find a local business or want to reach visitors coming to Mississippi."

"Our Search Engine and Web Site Directory are similar to Yahoo! and Google except that we only list and promote web sites for state and local government agencies, businesses, organizations and any other Mississippi-based web sites," Clarke added.

In addition to allowing individual site operators to register their web sites, Mississippi.com is working with chambers, tourism associations,

Main Street

organizations, and other associations to promote both their web sites and those of their members.

"We want to partner with people and organizations to promote their web sites and their community," Clarke said. "We hope to have a positive effect on the state and all of the small business owners that work hard to compete online."

It was after Hurricane Katrina that Clarke said he realized the potential for the web site.

"We were partnering with a national company at the time to market the site and had very little control. We knew that it was an opportunity that was lost. An opportunity to help get critical information out to people. We could have helped a lot of businesses," Clarke said. "Our site and systems never failed during the Hurricane, but we were not in a position to let Mississippi.com work for us or the people of the state."

It was several months after the storm that CCF Consulting, Inc. started developing plans to change the Mississippi.com web site and have more hands-on control. When they looked at the problems facing many of their customers they realized that they were always the same problems. How do I get more people to my web site? And, How do I reach people in my community or that are coming to my community?

"People say that if you can't beat them join them," Clarke said. "Well, everyone has joined Yahoo! and Google and they are still getting beat. At Mississippi.com we have taken the position that if they are not working for you then build something better, something that helps you compete and gives you a chance to win."

When you go to Mississippi.com there are 18 main categories listing web sites throughout the state including a Cities Guide. The Cities Guide breaks down web sites not only by city, but by categories. There is also a search feature that lets you type in keywords to find the sites with the best match.

"The searches results will get better and better as more businesses are listed in the directory," Clarke said. "We want everyone to make this their First stop on the Internet. In the future we will be adding free e-mail accounts, news feeds, and many other services that will give Mississippians a better on-line community."

For more information contact Byron Clarke at 1-228-868-9581 or at bclarke@ccfconsult.com.

Mississippi.com

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