Online PR in Dubai

There are 900 million consumers online today and as more and more consumers go online in the Middle East, the benefits of good online PR cannot be ignored.

In a pre-web world, the much sought after word-of-mouth advertising and recommendations were limited to real-world, just around the corner friends and trusted experts. Generation C opened up the content management and moved insights and recommendations online.  People no longer look to each other for recommendations but go online which has fast flipped to become an incredibly trusted medium.  Even the BBC is to sell its programmes to overseas viewers via the online medium and may also take advertising on its website for the first time to boost its commercial and online revenues.  Online PR is here to stay and companies like Onlime and Flip Media are positioned best to deliver a service.

Forrester Research found that in Europe, more than 50% of online consumer electronics buyers have checked product reviews from other customers using online media, and that 30% of buyers have actually bought a product online based on someone else's online rating. 15% have written an online review themselves.  PR and media hungry companies have undoubtedly played a part also.  Although there are few statistics readily available in Dubai and the rest of the Middle East, many indications such as increased web usage in the UAE and more and websites being built suggests that it’s due to follow in similar footsteps. 

Web 2.0 is not a new word to the techno savvy but it certainly is one to the general population.  When you ask what it is, the explanation may still seem confusing.  Ask for an example and you will hear the words Facebook, and networking.  Web 2.0 is the latest PR phenomenon to hit the world and the Middle East is no exception.   Dubai has thousands of members listed on Facebook and some media companies in the Middle East already looking to build something similar, as such they are turning to media development houses like Onlime Media and Flip Media that have the web development skills and the media savvy understanding to understand what PR is.

When promoting PR and media through the web, companies in the Middle East should make search engine optimisation a priority.  Search engine optimisation is a search on a search engine brings up a list of the most relevant websites.  Should you want potential customers to find your website, you need to make sure you have the right meta tags and titles for example, to ensure the engine will find you.  People online in the Middle East, as with most places in the world, usually go no further than the first 3 pages.  Onlime focus on this with there Content Management System MINT CMS a Dubai based tool that allows users to quickly add content already optimized for search engines. 

SEO might sound like a relatively simple process but in fact involves a lot of technological expertise.  In Dubai you will be faced with a lot of companies claiming they can do this but there are two companies in particular that appear to be positioned very well to look after any online media or PR perspective: Onlime Media and Flip Media.  Onlime certainly get the majority of the PR and media business and Flip tend to focus on the corporate large builds, both companies are highly recommended in the local Dubai market.  Onlime are so committed to their customer success that they offer flexible payment capability on delivery of companies websites in the top 20 of search engine listings, something that not even the most ambitious PR Company can offer such is their conviction to their skill when it comes to search engine optimisation.

Onlime media, based in Dubai, are a specialist online media production house delivering web 2.0. They deliver web 2.0 solutions to corporate clients and the media industry.  They provide website design and portal development to name a few services, and have quality assured products and services catered for the media industry in the UAE.  They are also able to provide off shore development capability free of tax to customers in Europe and the USA, they split development between the UAE and an office in Manila Philippines and are planning offices in the USA and Sweden.

Flip Media Flip Media an interactive agency in the Middle East with offices in Dubai, Bombay, Germany and the USA.  They provide unique and innovative online advertising solutions.

It seems when it comes to the Middle East market for Online PR then these companies are the two games in town, with both carving out a market leading position taking the realm of Online PR away from the geek into the IT department and moving it into the true media realm.