Eastern Cape businesses can now interact with overseas investors who are interested in their products or services - at a click of a button - on the revamped Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) website.

The new business service directory allows businesses and SMME's to register on the website for free and investors will be able to contact them directly.

"Apart from the service directory, the new site also boasts several new features including podcasts, webcasts, RSS feeds and google analytics," says ECDC information technology head Prakash Odhav.

The website also features the ECDC exporters' platform where businesses can feature any of their products they want to export for free.

The R100 000 website revamp has generated considerable interest recording an average 162 visitors a day to the new site in its first 20 days online from July 22 to August 10. The 3 242 visitors were mainly from South Africa, United States of America, United Kingdom and China.

"The new ECDC website is currently my favourite. Everything you need to know about ECDC is there, and although it is complex, it is also user-friendly. Its functionality doesn't compromise the quality and integrity of information on the website

"Websites are often the first point of interaction between outside investors and an organisation and it can either build or destroy a corporation's image. The ECDC website confirms that Eastern Cape institutions are making their mark," says Sivuyile Kotela, managing director of Kosla Technologies and user of the site in Port Elizabeth.  

The website has been designed to meet W3C industry standards for web developers, which means its quality is not compromised.

Trevor Lewis, director of BigMoo, the developers of the site, says the new ECDC website "encompasses good design along with international development trends catering for a better and more user-friendly experience."

 "We were concerned that having a top website that generated leads which weren't followed up effectively would render this web investment ineffective," says Odhav.

The new site is also designed to track enquiries and respond to them timeously.

"The site is now secure compared to the old one and it is protected against spam because emails are now encrypted.

"Apart from the cosmetic changes, ECDC needed a more dynamic online presence, with improved user satisfaction and also to keep up with technological trends," explains Odhav.

For ECDC media relations

Lunga Mtshizana

SMG Africa

Telephone 043 726 8833

Email lunga@smgafrica.com