Kenyan web design company Sokoletu Creative Limited has launched an online listing of Kenyan websites which it says will cut down on the time users search a business website using the universal resource locator (URL).
The directory, named Website.co.ke, lists websites of about 4,000 corporate firms, small businesses, government bodies and nonprofits based in Kenya.
Website.co.ke also offers detailed reports on customer feedback to firms at a fee, which is projected to replace the normal suggestion box and act as an online compliment or complaint channel for clients to firms, according to Gichingiri Kuria, the founder of Sokoletu Creative Limited.
“Most Kenyan service providers have a website and some are using Google’s sitebuilder Kbo.co.ke, most of them therefore have an online presence and listing all of them on one website is what they are focused on,” he said.
Website.co.ke begun as a website directory back in 2007 but was hindered as few firms in Kenya had websites. The entry of Google’s kbo.co.ke, however, enabled several more firms to embrace an online presence, which prompted the directory’s relaunch.
“The main difference from the old site is the commenting function which we want to be our main aim. We’d like this to be a tool that collects customers’ comments so that good service providers grow and not so good ones can see how to improve,” Kuria said.
The directory service by Website.co.ke is not the first in the country. Mocality, a firm owned by South Africa media MIH, provides the same service, collecting company addresses on its online portal, even those without website addresses. Yellow Pages also offers a similar service.
