Registrar and Web hosting provider AITDomains.com (aitdomains.com) announced on Tuesday it is now offering new domain registrations for $1, along with a year's worth of hosting service. The special promotion is part of the North Carolina-based registrar's initial foray into the hosting market, providing low-cost plans geared toward small businesses.

The announcement comes as research company IDC reports that small businesses are spending more on hosting with an estimated 80 percent of firms to be online in the next three years.

"What we're seeing is businesses want an online presence, not so much to sell their products, but to get their names out and to open an additional doorway to customer communication," says James Steger, product manager for AITDomains.com. "These plans are a good first step."

The IDC report says small businesses will spend nearly $7.5 million on Web hosting by 2009. The report also shows that most of these companies have little interest in entering the growing e-commerce market, and are more concerned about interacting with visitors, without committing valuable staff time or hiring new employees.