Who's who now on the Middle East Internet?

The Internet in the Middle East has been a microcosm of the boom and bust seen in the rest of the world. However, the sector is now maturing with a few local champions and a lot of casualties, and perhaps a few more to come.

Four years ago Planetarabia.com, Arabia.com, MiddleEastOnline and Commerce One Middle East were the big names to watch in the local Internet scene. This week Arabia.com went offline, the last of these players to close.

Today, according to Alexa.com the top regional business websites are AMEInfo.com, Bayt.com and Maktoub.com, in that order. So what was the secret of their success?

Market positioning is one thing. Planetarabia.com and Arabia.com wanted to be regional portals on the Yahoo! model. No need really, Yahoo! is the Yahoo! of the Middle East, and millions consult this portal daily in the region.

Commerce One and MiddleEastOnline were aimed at the business-to-business e-marketplace. Again they faced a global rival in the shape of US giant EBay. And even a more nimble footed local rival in Tejari.com which continues to do well.

Having too much money to start with was also a disadvantage. One way to make a small fortune on the Internet was to start off with a big one! Venture capital can encourage lazy business practices, and is also open to abuse by unscrupulous operators.

It can not be just a coincidence that the three websites that Alexa.com now ranks as the top regional business websites had little capital to begin with and all had to fight to make money to survive.

Finally, success on the Internet also came down to normal good business practice: looking after your clients, whatever the time or day of the week; creating and marketing a new brand in the most cost-effective way possible; and sheer tenacity, keeping going when most people would have given up.

So that leaves the Middle East with one effective business news and information website, a jobs website and an Arabic language general portal.

Of course, there are others but few can claim a fraction of the number of page views of the top sites which are now increasingly recognized in the Arab world for their advertising and sponsorship potential.