YAHOO! en Español Launches YAHOO! Express.

Yahoo! en Español announced the launch of Yahoo! Express – a premium service available to Yahoo! en Español users and small business owners in the US Hispanic market. Yahoo! Express enables small business owners to submit a request to have their Website posted on the Yahoo! en Español Web Directory and receive an expedited response within seven business days.

“Yahoo! en Español Express was developed as part of our ongoing effort to give consumers and business owners the chance to market their wares to Yahoo!’s growing Spanish-speaking audience around the world,” said Veronica Alvarez, commerce producer for Yahoo! en Español. “As we continue to build customized, targeted services for our loyal user-base, we also want to provide tools that will enable small businesses to grow”.

According to a report released in July 2001 by the United States Department of Commerce, minority-owned businesses grew more than four times as fast as U.S. firms – achieving a 30 percent growth rate compared to the seven percent increase for U.S. firms in general. Hispanics currently represent 39 percent of firms owned by minorities.

Visitors to Yahoo! en Español can click on the Yahoo! Express link located within the “Centro Comercial” (Marketplace) section of Yahoo! en Español’s home page and then follow the instructions on how to submit a site.

Within seven business days, users will receive an e-mail response stating whether their Website entry meets the Yahoo! en Español requirements. Persons submitting sites that do not meet the requirements will receive an extensive analysis and a series of recommendations on how to improve the quality of their sites. The Yahoo! en Español Web directory is accessed by millions of Spanish-speaking consumers around the world.