ARABvertising.net: Engineers bridge the gap between Arab businesses and cyberspace

M2 PRESSWIRE-16 October 2000-ARABvertising.net: Engineers bridge the gap between Arab businesses and cyberspace (C)1994-2000 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Beirut, Lebanon -- The Internet remains English language-dominated, and has posed a particular challenge for speakers of languages which are not written in the Roman alphabet. Arabic browsers have helped, but it's still been difficult for businesses in the region to access buyers on the Web.The research unit of Internet Arab World (IAW) magazine puts the region's Internet population at almost 1.9 million, however, the IAW also expects that by 2002 users will number 12 million. Usage has increased some 62% since the previous survey taken last April. With so many new users coming online, Walid Khoury and his partner Anthony Hreich, both graduates from ESIB, Beirut, felt it was time for the Arab world to have its own banner advertising network, so in June they created ARABvertising.net and began contacting some of the leading web sites in the Middle East and Arab countries. By the end of the month they had over 20 leading sites, including AMEinfo, Getforless, and Libanis, and now count Terranet and Career Middle East as leading members. Just last week, ARABvertising.net partnered with Maktoob.com - the most visited web site in the Arab states. "The idea was to make something new that didn't exist in the Arab countries," says Khoury. "And at the same time, we wanted to link the Arab websites together although we didn't want to create another Arab related search engine, or Arab portal." The result is a professional site that is dedicated to Arab countries only, so it offers a more targeted audience for businesses. In order to ensure high standards, ARABvertising.net has strict selection criteria. Says Khoury, "No personal home pages can join; no freely hosted web sites are permitted and we don't allow web sites that have multiple banners on their pages, since this reduces the click through ratio. This is why some of our members are achieving such a high click through ratio of up to 12%, with an average of 4.2%." Since the average click through ratio in most banner exchange services is less than 1%, it's easy to see that these two engineers know how to build a solid business. ARABvertising.net is constantly upgrading its software to be able to trade 1000,000 banners per day and is introducing new features such as giving advertisers the ability to display java script and flash banners, to choose the daily hours to display their banners and so on. This is a site that is setting the standard for banner networks around the world. Visit http://www.ARABvertising.net for more information or contact: Information from Press Release Network may be freely distributed to any publication. Wherever applicable, please cite Press Release Network as the news source. DISCLAIMER: The content of each press release is the responsibility of the publishing organization and is not vetted or approved by Press Release Network prior to publication. Press Release Network is not liable directly or indirectly for any direct or consequential loss, damage or expense resulting from the material disseminated and published on the site. Subscribers are advised to check the accuracy of all press releases and to obtain their own professional advice in relation to such information. CONTACT: Anthony Hreich, Walid Khoury Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] e-mail: [email protected] ((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http:// www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to [email protected])).