Could Wampit be the Google of the future?
Google might dominate the market when it comes to search engines but the directors of a Wharf-based company think they have found something the internet giants have missed.
Wampit is a brand new business search engine and database offering companies the chance to advertise for free using whatever technology they have at their disposal.
The unique selling point of the website is its capacity to include "rich" content on the adverts, in the form of photographs, text and, most importantly, video. And all for nothing.
Wampit directors Paul Holland and Adam Purrier, who operate from offices in Westferry Circus, explained the concept.
"Basically, it's like YouTube for business advertising," said Paul.
"We both have a background in media and advertising and we realised there was so much more the internet could be used for in terms of business use.
"We're both passionate about the overall user experience of the internet and when you look at how things like Facebook or Bebo have developed it seemed a natural progression to apply social networking to a business model.
"People are so much more aware of the internet and how to use it and hopefully we'll give businesses somewhere to focus that."
In these cash-strapped times a major attraction for businesses is the site is it is entirely free of charge, although the pair admitted people are often sceptical about something seemingly too good to be true.
Paul said: "One thing people say to us is 'if it's free, there must be a catch'. But there isn't. Any size business can advertise on the site.
"It's really designed so businesses can effectively make their own adverts. They can spend as little or as much as they like and then put it on Wampit for free.
"We've both put our own capital into the project so the company has no loans or debts to pay back, which means we can offer the service for nothing."
There will be "bolt-ons" added to the site this year which companies can choose to take up for a small fee, but Adam insisted the basic service will still be free.
He said: "It will be things like a web-link or extra images that we might charge a fee for, something like £5, but these will be low cost and optional and the listing itself will still cost nothing.
"We're not looking to become the next Bill Gates, we want this to be something people can use and share and if we manage to make a living from it then all the better."
Google and Yahoo need not fear their market dominance will be challenged, as Adam explained.
He said: "We see other sites as allies not competitors. Ideally we want to develop a Google-friendly web page that will drive traffic onto our site. It will benefit everyone."
At present Adam and Paul are looking for companies to sign up to the site. Despite only being operational for a matter of weeks they already have around 1,000 companies registered.
And where did that unusual name come from?
"Wampit is actually a village in Papua New Guinea, although neither of us has ever been there. It just came up in a brainstorm and we liked the sound of it.
"And it also goes well with the tag-line, 'if you want it, wampit'."
Businesses interested in registering with Wampit should visit wampit.co.uk.
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Go to the site by all means, its very pretty, but you are never going to find anything unless very lucky. Given that you can purchase an IYP for c.£1k with a good set of basic listings with industry standard classifications just as a primer that would have been a good place to start, and then add some advertisers, even for free. But this is one of a few thousand cottage industries that adds nothing new to the shark infested waters that are the directory services sector. 'Have they found something the internet giants have missed' erm, no, don't think so! Have fun guys, innovate by all means, but I wouldn't be looking to invest here!
Glad you liked the look of the site Peter. We have intentionally avoided buying in a database of listings as these are pretty worthless and nothing new, and as you suggest, that is exactly what a lot of these Directory 'Cottage Industries' do.
Every business that is on our site has registered themselves and therefore put their own rich content on.
Every business that registers gets a listing completely free of charge which is just as good as the paid listings you get with major directories. Look what we offer for free; text, an image, a video upload, email link, maps, ratings, a search engine friendly "Landing Page" and later this week a Live Twitter Feed directly onto a business listing if they want it.
Take a look at this comparison table on what the top 10 directories offer for free, to see where we stand http://blog.wampit.co.uk/compare-free-advertising-directories.
We have only been going a short while, although we already have a few thousand businesses listed Therefore although you couldn't find what you were looking for at the moment, this will change in the not to distant future with the volume of businesses we currently have registering.
Re: your comment "I won't be investing here", you don't need to Peter, it's FREE.