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So how do you as a South African business targeting South Africans determine where your market is when online? Which websites should you be advertising on be listed on? One way is to use a website called Alexa. Alexa provides general information on global internet usage.
Using Alexa to see what sites are apparently most popular among South African internet users we find some interesting names coming up. The following list are selected results from Alexa's top 100 as at 15 Jan 2008.
1. Facebook
About a year ago you might not have even heard the name "facebook". Many call 2007 'the year of facebook' before calling it 'the year of social networking'. Facebook is a social networking site where people connect and interact online. Facebook is so popular among South Africans that it even outdoes Google!
2. Google
No surprise that Google is high in the ranking, proving to be the most popular search engine used among South Africans. Yahoo! resulted in being the 4th most popular.
5. YouTube
YouTube is in essence a social networking website where users can view and upload videos. Browsing this type of website on a slow dial-up connection would be quite painstaking. The fact the a website such as YouTube is popular among South Africans is likely a result of the improved broadband infrastructure in South Africa in recent years.
7. Wikipedia
Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia where you can find information on just about anything. It's probably one of the few sites that have kept to the true meaning of the internet - getting information for free.
8. News24
In 2007 News24 boasted 1,000,000 users for the first time - the highest in South African internet history on a South African website. News24 proves to be South Africa's favourite source for the latest news online.
13. Standard Bank
Standard Bank proves to be the most visited South African bank on the web. This is not to say they necessarily have the most market share, but it is likely that they have more customers using internet banking that than the other of the 'big 5'.
15. Gumtree
Gumtree is a free South African classifieds website. Since last year popularity of the site has increased dramatically. The question remains whether they will ever offer their own advertising products (as apposed to directing advertisers through Google Adwords).
26. Bid or Buy
The first e-commerce website that appears is all the way down at 26, however over recent years South Africans have shown less resistance to online shopping and experts expect revenues to increase. The number one shop being an auction site might strengthen a view that most South African online shoppers are quite price sensitive and always looking for a special deal. Ebay.com appeared at 29.
30. Take 2
Take 2 is an online retailer. Take 2 appears to overtaking Kalahari.net, which appeared at number 34.
31. Autotrader
The top among South African automotive websites.
Please note that these rankings were taken in January 2008. For the latest results check out the Alexa Top 100.
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