By Aoidin Scully
Online.ie has announced it is to introduce a Yahoo-style search directory focused on Irish sites in January. The company is compiling listings for IrishSites.com at a rate of 100 sites per day, and offers free registration to Irish webmasters.
A sister site to www.IrishAbroad.com, IrishSites.com should not be seen as a competitor to other Irish search engines, such as NiceOne.com and Iesearch.ie, according to Online.ie. NiceOne, which was founded in 1996, launched the fourth generation of its search directory in August, while ieSearch has also been gaining in popularity recently.
"There are many different aspects to Online.ie, and we thought a search would be a useful resource. From the research we did on 1,100 of our users, the service which people most request is a search, so we're putting a concerted effort into building up that service," said Colm Grealy, Managing Director, Online.ie. Mr Grealy added that based on current site traffic from Online.ie and IrishAbroad.com, it was expected IrishSites.com would be heavily used from day one.
IrishSites claims to be unique in letting sites be registered and searched by region as well as category. But Con Daly of Locataco said IrishSites isn't the only service offering this facility.
"Locataco, Local Ireland and a number of other directories allow you to search by region, so that's not really a valid point. It's just another Internet search engine, like all the other directories out there," said Mr Daly. Mr Daly did praise the site for its Irish focus, though.
"It's better than most in that the vast majority of Irish directories, don't give you Irish sites at all, they give you American," said Mr Daly.
Locataco was launched in November and claims to be a different type of Internet directory, aimed at small businesses which wish to get on the Net. The company, which has over 1,000 subscribers already, offers Web design and hosting services to subscribers, as well as preferential listings in the site's comprehensive search engine. Locataco will embark on a major advertising campaign shortly which will feature 100 taxis emblazoned with the Locataco name travelling round the country.
"We'll be doing an awful lot of advertising over the next year to build the Locataco name, so users will make the site their home page. As soon as the taxis and the government reach an agreement, we'll launch the next leg of our campaign," said Mr Daly. He added that the regulation of taxis here means that the campaign had cost a lot more than in Northern Ireland, where taxis are unregulated.
