A Grahamstown-based Internet business this week launched a revamped website that expects to gain new advertising and popularity.
38.co.za is a website, created by local Web programmer Christo Crampton, which posts club and party photographs on the Internet.
A Grahamstown-based Internet business this week launched a revamped website that expects to gain new advertising and popularity.
38.co.za is a website, created by local Web programmer Christo Crampton, which posts club and party photographs on the Internet.
The website, started three years ago as a Rhodes University Enterprise Management project and named after Crampton’s student digs in 38 New Street, was far more popular than its designers had anticipated.
Suddenly we realised there was a whole lot of interest, says Crampton.We consolidated the website and made sure everything worked, polishing
the way the technology functioned.To good effect.
The venture became so well-known that it was featured last year in a Financial Mail supplement on student businesses.
The website’s growth has been impressive. It started with me and a friend taking photos, and we now have a team of over 10 photographers,says Crampton.
In December we took photos at Plett, Port Alfred and Kenton, and we aim to extend to the rest of the country.
The revamped 38.co.za will work more closely with the clubs in town, posting events listings. Additionally, every user will be able to have their own personal website using 38 space, where they can upload their own photos, articles and blogs (Internet diaries).
The new site is cleverer,says Crampton.38 has moved on to a new host with extra storage space and slicker design and navigation.
Crampton does the website’s programming and organises photography while his friend Richard English has now taken over marketing, streamlining the business and legal aspects.
It’s suddenly become quite big and well organised, says Crampton. The new version is almost corporate, with advertising packages built into the system,he explains.
�This is the first year that we are really expecting to make money. We have begun to approach companies for preliminary discussions and they are all very interested.
When we started up, advertisers were almost giving us charity and now we are more like business associates. We are now looking at a franchise approach, to make a profitable model that can be adapted to different areas.
The next phase is to find a big company to align their logo with us.
According to Crampton, Internet advertising is slicker than other media. It has to be paid for only when people see it, and advertisers can monitor their coverage, checking how many times it has been viewed.
Last week, adverts featured on 38.com were seen by about 2000 people every day, and that was before Rhodes O-Week photographs began gaining hits.
Crampton soon plans to introduce a spin-off venture called schools38.com for school dances and socials.So for example we will take photos at matric dances, and the next day parents in Jo’burg can go on the Internet and view them.
38 is different from commercial party photograph sites because it is community based and not primarily corporate, says Crampton.
Our photographs show people having the best time ever and I think that’s why we have become so popular. It’s more personal, and I’d like to keep it that way.
