All About Us
Kennis Limited consists of Susan Wilson and Patrick Fenlon, and was formed in 1999.
How KitSites! started
We had both been creating business computer systems for over 30 years, and it was time to start something new. It had to be something which used the skills we already had. It had to be something which was not being done, or was not being done well. If you don't know how to do something, or nobody wants it doing, then your business will fail.
We had already made two large websites for ourselves so we looked at making websites for others. We found that it was already being done by many skilled and well known companies. No chance of competing there.
But we noticed who they were making websites for - medium or big businesses and organisations who had lots of money, or small businesses and groups who could afford the high cost.
Are there many small businesses and groups who don't have a website, want one, but can't afford it? Yes! Thousands! There was a market.
We looked at being a "budget" website company. The ones already doing that offer only a few pages. Fine for those who only want a few pages, but what about those who need more? No-one was doing full websites at a low cost. There was our market.
We soon realised that we couldn't do it. Our market still couldn't afford the price we would have to charge. Then we thought of building websites and renting them to people. We would get our money back via the rental. We were in the "website rental" business.
What would the Clients want from a Rental Website company?
- A low and fixed up-front price that didn't require a bank loan, plus a low rental fee that could come out of petty cash.
- Nice looking websites, lots of pages, with lots of "features".
- Friendly, patient people who talk "normally" and don't use jargon.
- People who understand small businesses and other organisations.
We ticked all the boxes except the first from the start. We'd learned how to make good looking websites. We have been running a 'helpdesk' for users of our systems for years so we avoid jargon. We are a small business, and we support websites for two not-for-profits.
The big problem left was how to make websites cheaply.
Software Generated Websites
We found that websites could be created by computer software. Their prices were low. The finished websites were good looking, relatively simple, and that is all that a lot of small businesses need.
But:
- you were expected to do the technical work of setting them up by yourself;
- setting one up was hard to do, though you could pay them to help you;
- you had to pay in US dollars;
- the finished website would be in the USA so would be a bit slow to use.
These are big turnoffs for someone in Godzone who doesn't have great computer skills and just wants to show what they do to other New Zealanders.
Project KitSites!
We now knew that:
- Lots of small businesses and other organisations need websites bigger than "budget" size.
- They have a really small amount of money available.
- They can't set up a website on their own. They need to explain what they need to trained people, who set it up for them.
- The trained people need to be friendly, speak ordinary English, and understand small businesses and groups.
We got down to it and spent a year creating our KitSites! software. Then we built the first four Website Models. From these four different model styles we can create most of the types of website that small companies and groups need. If we find we've missed something, we'll change our software to add it. It's designed to be easy to change.
How to get a KitSites! website
- Look at the pages describing our Website Models.
- Pick the one nearest to what you want, and get in touch with us about it. It doesn't matter if you don't know exactly what you want. We know how to help you work it out. We understand small businesses, small groups, and the types of website they need. We are easy to talk with, and avoid jargon.
- Once we know what you want we create the empty pages of your website. Then you send us your text and images, and we put that in those pages. It's that simple.
- You pay us a fee for setting it up, and you pay us a monthly rental fee for keeping it on the Internet. That's simple, too.
And bear this in mind, this is a KitSites! website. This was all created by our software.
