New portal YoYo touts individualized web searches
Internet Idea's new portal, YoYo (www.yoyo.pl), has stepped up competition in the Polish internet world by introducing a search engine that customizes its findings for each user.
"We believe it will be another step in the internet in Poland," said Arkadiusz Kuich, president of Internet Idea. Before launching YoYo, Internet Idea focused on building web pages.
While seen as innovative even by competitors, executives in the industry said that YoYo's technical prowess was not enough to ensure its position on the market. They said the new site, which launched five second past midnight on Jan. 1, 2000, must also aggressively market itself to build traffic in the fast-growing internet sector here.
The site, which has attracted approximately 1.5 million hits in its first four weeks of operation, distinguishes itself by allowing each user to set his own search preferences and providing the applicable results. While other portals such as Wirtualna Polska (www.wp.pl) and Onet (www.onet.pl) also offer customized searches, YoYo is the only one to actively promote the service by taking away a user's ability to do a more general search. The goal is for YoYo's searches to yield more applicable results for users.
Partly for that reason, Kuich said that his company was confident YoYo will be able to carve out its place on the market despite the existence of other well-established portals. He also said that the growth in Poland's internet sector which has reached about 2 million users would provide enough opportunity for everyone.
Competitors also said that YoYo's approach is in line with the direction the internet is going providing more customized information for users.
"Personalization is the key to the future of what web users can expect," said Jacek Kawalec, head of technology and board vice president at Wirtualna Polska.
Kawalec said that YoYo could be a viable competitor if it has the right management in place. "I think it all depends on the people behind it" and how well they can integrate new technologies, he said.
Others were impressed by the site's focus on better searches. "I can say that it is a better version," said Leszek Bogdanowicz, president of Internet Ventures.
According to Kuich, YoYo will also expand its number of channels from the existing eight to at least 12 in the coming months, adding topics such as science and technology. One of the new channels scheduled to appear by the end of this month deals with cinema.
"We will have many more categories in three or four months," Kuich said.
In addition to expanding areas of interest, YoYo will also begin carrying e-commerce activities such as shopping or travel services as of March, Kuich said.
While those plans should strengthen the site's content, one big obstacle YoYo must overcome, competitors said, is marketing itself so as to build traffic. "The crucial point is how they want to promote this portal," Bogdanowicz said.
While in the past it was enough for internet sites to simply show up and wait for users to learn about their presence through word of mouth, today portals need to actively market themselves.
"Now you must have big money" for promotions, Bogdanowicz said.
Internet Idea plans to launch a zl. 3 million-zl. 7 million ($730,000-$1.7 million) advertising campaign in March, when the site is more established.
The company spent six months and about zl. 1 million ($243,000) to develop the web site. In the coming year, Internet Idea would like to invest a further $2 million-$3 million on expanding the site. "It will be (used for) developing content and programming," Kuich said.
The goal, Kuich said, is to attract as many as 15 million hits within the next six months.
Competitors, though, said the company would need much deeper pockets if it is to carve out a strong niche in the increasingly sophisticated internet market here. "I think it's not enough," Bogdanowicz said of the amount of planned investment into YoYo.
Internet Idea is already looking for investors, Kuich said. The company is also looking at teaming up with an internet "partner," and has already talked to Finnish telecom company Nokia. Internet Idea would like that internet partner to bring in about $3 million-$5 million in fresh capital. The company could also bring on a strategic investor, he said, adding that YoYO, like every internet venture, is thinking about going public either on U.S. or German markets in coming years.
Other new portals
Also new to the portal scene is IDG.PL (www.idg.pl), a project of publishing company International Data Group, which publishes computer journals Computerworld, PC World Komputer, Publish i Macworld, NetWorld and Computerworld Raport.
The site provides on-line versions of many of the company's publications as well as daily news and archives.
Although IDG.PL went live in the beginning days of January, the site has not received much media attention. "It's working, but not promoted," said Michal Kreczmar, project manager for IDG's portal. He said, however, that the news portion of the site would likely be promoted in upcoming print versions of the group's publications.
The publishing company began working on the IDG.PL site some seven months ago, Kreczmar said. He declined to say how much IDG invested in the site's development or how much they intend to pour into it in the future. He did note, however, that the company was keen to continue developing the portal.
The site has received about 60,000 page impressions by Jan. 25 for news feeds and articles from its publications, while a separate section of the site, which allows users to download software, has seen 135,000 page impressions. Kreczmar said IDG expects the number of page impressions for both sections of the site to at least double in the next two months and climb steadily after that. "Before the end of the half year, we should have 2 million impressions," Kreczmar said.
