"Just Google it!”...ever try “Bleet it”?

Years ago people grabbed their encyclopedia for answers.  Or searched through the Yellow Pages when the toilet broke.  Now you just run to your computer. 

comScore, Inc released statistics a few years ago about online searches. The qSearch 2.0 found that in one month "more than 750 million people age 15 and older - or 95 percent of the worldwide Internet audience - conducted 61 billion searches worldwide...an average of more than 80 searches per searcher."

That's a lot of searching people!  Yet everyone has encountered the frustration of looking for something online, and an hour later it feels like you went half way around the world without finding what you wanted.  Bleet.co.za was born out of this feeling of frustration and the growing number of searchers.  They realised that South Africa lacks a comprehensive online business directory.  Their solution was simple - create a business search engine where businesses list their products and services, then provide meaningful search results.   

Bleet aims at being fast, reliable, easy to use, accurate and intuitive.  Through smart search technology, Bleet can effectively connect customers and businesses.  Each business can be in control of its own profile and is linked to multiple keywords, making bleet more accurate at finding what you need.  The searches use logic and adapt to meet the needs of the user. 

Before you think that it's only in South Africa that we would have the unreliable business searches frustration, here are some statistics from a survey done by 37Signals, LLC, a Chicago Web design and usability firm.  This was a while ago; hopefully the companies mentioned have adapted their sites since. The rating worked on a scale from five to minus five. "Online retail giant Amazon.com came in 7th place with a three rating...and eBay came in 16th place with a rating of one." As Scott Upton, a usability expert at 37Signals, puts it ''I don't have the time to figure out HOW Apple want me to search for a cable...That's their job. Not mine.''  

In South Africa Bleet.co.za has taken on this challenge.  Their goal is to become the Business Search Engine of choice in South Africa.  And after that, to move toward a global scale.