While big Internet companies are legendary for the losses they accumulate, one little community site in South Africa is quietly making a profit from its niche market.
Pretoria Online (http://www.pta-online.co.za) recently became self-sustaining and will be making money soon, according to founder and sole employee Jan Taljaard. "I might have sunk many thousands of rands and hours of my time into it, but it is about to pay off," he says.
The site started in 1993 as a bulletin board running from a 286/12 PC, after initial experiments on an XT. It later took the technological leap to a 386 and dared to replace the Spitfire BBS with the Excalibur information server. From mid-1995 it operated sporadically, until the name was used as working title for Pretoria Beeld in 1998. The real thing was re-launched independently in September 1998. Since then it has been hosting daily local news, specials such as the recent Aida operama at Minolta Loftus, and a host of information relating to the city.
A simple focus
Taljaard credits his success to simplicity and focus. "The whole site is designed on a 486 DX, to establish a common denominator, so each page must be functional. Low graphics, no ASP, very little Java and frames only when essential, that is the key."
He believes regular readers deserve to save money. "I want them to be on and off in four minutes or less. That means they must be able to find and read all the new content in that space of time." This, he says, is also the problem with many other South African community sites. "They base their sites on the American model, where dial-up connections are very cheap. You have to keep the Telkom rates in mind, and give your users a break."
As for focus, he uses geographical boundaries to ensure relevance. "News must either be from the region or affect people in the region. Otherwise it is not news to us."
The identity of the site is jealously guarded. "It is more a hub than a portal. External links are identified as such and all other content adheres to the same standard." Other sites, he says, make the mistake of buying content from external sources, and while this might be cheaper and far simpler, the soul of the site is sacrificed because there is no fixed style.
Free flow
Pretoria Online does not fear competition from major players with heavy capital backing. "They can never make it," Taljaard says. "Firstly, they have these immense bureaucracies, which creates overheads without allowing news to flow freely. And secondly, they are administered from a central point. You must be from the community you are targeting, write for that community and keep your eyes peeled for local opportunities."
Taljaard estimates his non-cache hits to be in the region of 1 000 per day during weekdays, although he does not have audited results on all his pages. None the less, advertisers have signed up for level three and four pages, depending on the concept to sell itself.
Future plans for the site include a billboard rather than a chat function, and intensive news coverage. "I want people to feel there is nothing in Pretoria we don't cover. Then we will be a real success."
The expected profits will not be huge and will be dampened by the need to expand. More news will mean new employees who demand salaries. But Taljaard expects to stay out of the red from now on. "I don't do it for the money, but it is nice to be able to eat."
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