Iafrica analysed

Though still one of South Africa's top 15 websites, www.iafrica.com has been in a steady decline over the last few years. And even if there actual numbers haven't fallen, they certainly haven't grown at the same rate as their competitors.

So what is up with one of SA's oldest online destinations?

The good

The best thing about iafrica is that they are producing some unique content. They seem to have a number of good writers and editors on their staff, which suggests that things may well be turned around without too much changing of personnel.

The bad

As a brand though, iafrica is coming across as very unfocussed and outdated.

This may, in part, be due to the sites roots as a portal, and it is still very much being run as such. At any time, the front page contains a wide variety of stories in a wide variety of tones leaving the user with no sense of coherence or brand identity.

You never get the feeling that you are on a serious news site, as you do on News24, nor does the business section feel as focused as Fin24.

Compounding the lack of focus is the sites cluttered and outdated layout. If you know your way around the site this may not matter, but new users will simply go somewhere else.

Most of the time less really is more when it comes to good online design.

And tying into the outdated design is iafrica's failure to successfully make use of the latest technologies. Allowing people to send in some pictures are fine, but where is the vibrant blogging community, and why is it not possible to post comments underneath articles?

The way forward

As a brand, the "iafrica" label may be doing more harm than good at this point. To revive its flagging fortunes, a clever bit of rebranding may be needed – maybe roughly based on the media24 model – split iafrica up into say PrimeNews, primeMoney, PrimeSport, and so on.

With each of these new sites developed from scratch, with clean functional designs, and with all the necessary bits of Web2.0 functionality added where appropriate, things can very likely be turned around.

Whether any of that will happen is doubtful. More likely, iafrica will keep drifting on the remaining momentum for a few years, riding out the steady decline until someone finally pulls the plug.

It will be a pity though.

Right now iafrica as a whole is less than the sum of its parts. But with a clever bit of rebranding and rethinking a lot of unmet potential can be unleashed.

What this is about

The online media environment in South Africa is alive with possibility.

Even though Media24 is dominant at present, there is a lot that their competitors can do to catch up. Whether they do, or not, will depend in large on their understanding of online media and willingness to invest in the right technologies.

It is really all their for the taking. But, whether anyone is astute enough to do so remains to be seen.

The idea with this blog is to keep tabs on the fast moving race for the clicks and page-views of our local internet users.
So, to start with, I will over the next few posts analyse, in turn, a few of the major players on the local scene.