One thing that lockdown has taught us is the importance of having an online presence for your business. However, making the shift is often easier said than done. For many brick-and-mortar businesses, moving online may be deemed as a daunting task because of everything that’s required to get up and running; from developing a website, web and email hosting, digital marketing and everything in between.

While it’s possible for businesses to set up their online business and manage everything themselves, there’s a simple and cost-effective solution that can cater to all of their business needs, and more. 1-grid is a hosting company that is dedicated to doing just that – helping South African businesses not only to get online, but to succeed online. Their services include company registration, website design, web and email hosting, securing websites with SSL certificates and add-ons such as Facebook marketing and website optimisation.

Building a stand alone, trusted brand

1-grid’s story dates back to over 20 years ago when they hosted their first customer’s business online in 1997 under WebAfrica. Then following a number of buyouts and acquisitions, 1-grid officially became their own entity in 2018 following a rebranding of Gridhost web hosting, which was acquired by WebAfrica in 2013.

“One of our biggest challenges has been developing the 1-grid brand since our move from WebAfrica. We have addressed this challenge by developing the awareness of our brand through various marketing activities. Additionally, we have positioned ourselves as a local hosting provider that aims to uplift the SME market in South Africa – we aim to be the leading hosting provider in South Africa by 2025,” said Thomas Vollrath, 1-grid CEO.

Helping South African SMEs succeed

When 1-grid was rebranded in 2018 they chose PayFast as their online payment solution to give their customers a convenient and easy way to pay online for web hosting services. Through PayFast, 1-grid has enhanced their customer experience by offering multiple payment methods, including credit cards and Instant EFT.

“We’ve had a very positive experience partnering with PayFast, primarily due to their proactive teams and excellent account management. PayFast has also assisted us with billing and the administrative side of billing, providing an all-round excellent service,” said Morne Patterson, 1-grid Financial Director.

1-grid currently services more than 35,000 customers, which Saskia Schuldig, 1-grid PR Officer, says wouldn’t be possible without their passionate employees. “Our dynamic team is united in the mission of moving businesses online by assisting entrepreneurs of start-ups, small businesses and SMEs to build and cultivate an online presence, which is essential in the global marketplace. We strive to empower entrepreneurs as we admire their courage and passion to succeed.”

1-grid’s most popular product over the years has been web hosting, however when the COVID-19 national state of disaster hit South Africa in March 2020 they saw a massive demand for domain registrations.

“While our web hosting solutions continue to do well, we have seen significant uptake in the past six months with our do-it-yourself website builder solution. This hasn’t come as a surprise based on how simple the product is to use and the fact that more and more businesses are finding it essential to have an easy to manage online solution,” concluded Saskia.