Comments on: How bad, bad, bad the SA web can be

By: Craig Wilson

Craig Wilson — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:58:44 +0000

I moved from the UK to Cape Town two years ago and got the fright of my life when I first fired up my laptop and done a little searching of the South African online world - things have not improved much I am afraid to say!

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By: Tony Lopes

Tony Lopes — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 08:21:15 +0000

Hey Jarred

I completely agree with you, South African search engine optimization (SEO) is in general horrendous. Doing just a little bit of research online will show any web master/marketer/business owner exactly how to optimize their site for the main key words within their niche. It’s not a problem limited to furniture stores, sadly. And as for usability and website design, don’t get me started. First port of call - put yourself in your customers shoes, use multiple browsers to test your site and take it from there. If you can’t bother to find the time to do so yourself, hire a specialist.

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By: flooted

flooted — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:06:41 +0000

well it seems the quality of the sites pretty much matches the quality of the onfloor customer service you get. Anyone bought anything from crappycraft recently..?

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By: naeem

naeem — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:11:49 +0000

Personally i found that many of the established businesses are run by ‘old school’ guys who are not willing to take the plunge and invest in their online presence.

They’ll sign up with those crappy 3grand for 5 page type of websites and have zero interest in actually maintaining and nurturing it.

I found with our online store, i got the guys involved, from the owners to the sales guys. It is now treated as a seperate branch. Dedicated staff, time, resources & adspend is allocated accordingly.

The sooner SMME’s look at the web & ecommerce as a viable source of income and NOT just an online business card, they’ll rake in some $$$’s

Strangely, in these troubled economic times we live in. Online sales have shown healthy growth while brick n mortar stores have hit a plateau of sorts.

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By: anon

anon — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:47:13 +0000

@hedmekanik: You will be surprised at the amount of people that are connected via mobile phones. much larger percentage than you think

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By: arthurficial

arthurficial — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:13:57 +0000

i have to admit that the one good thing that flows from this is the opportunities it present for SEOs and web designers.

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By: Alan Alston

Alan Alston — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:17:08 +0000

hedmekanik: i don’t think that was the expectation either: it was to _find_ something firstly, then find something that works on a modern browser (bonus points), and then to find something that’s in stock.

getting it delivered on the same day (or even week), now that would be orgasmic.

btw jarred: i ordered two of those beanbags and i can vouch for them: perfect for GTA4 marathons and other home-uses..

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By: hedmekanik

hedmekanik — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:16:35 +0000

I hardly think that people are expecting an orgasmic design experience, nor a transcendental IT epiphany, when looking for furniture.

A case of “hyperconnecteds expecting too much”?

Quite.

In a country where a fraction of the population has access to the internet, we’re alright, jack.

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By: Jarred Cinman

Jarred Cinman — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:49:15 +0000

@alan: that might be the most useful comment anyone has ever posted on one of my pieces. Thanks!

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By: arthurficial

arthurficial — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:58:48 +0000

if the providers of access to the medium can’t get it right.. we have a long way to go before users do.. wouldn’t you say.

i think us hyperconnecteds expect too much because we live half our lives on a perfect internet..

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