Redpages.ph, the way to do business today

MANILA, Philippines - The advent of the Internet has opened countless opportunities for every discerning businessman.

Creative OnlineMedia Inc. CEO Dennis Ng saw an opportunity in the services sector by providing a platform for doing business on the Internet.

Ng created redpages.ph to allow businesses to advertise and promote their products and services and for buyers to look for suppliers through the redpages.ph portal.

Redpages.ph is now the fastest growing online business directory in the Philippines, providing an online marketplace for suppliers and buyers to conduct their business on the Internet.

“Buyers need not search the telephone directory and call each business listed on its pages for quotations. All a buyer has to do is post at redpages.ph their buying leads for suppliers to see and send their quotations, Buyers can post unlimited buying leads at no cost,” Ng said.

There were over 17,300 Philippine businesses that are listed at redpages.ph as of December last year.

Having a free redpages.ph account entitles these listed businesses to upload up to five products. Each company can upload products, photos and company profile for free.

Redpages.ph offers these businesses the option to upgrade to a premium membership with benefits as premium website templates and unlimited product postings by paying an annual fee of P8,888.

“The annual payment represents a very minimal investment compared to the countless benefits and opportunities offered to a premium account through redpages.ph,” said John Paul Maclang, COO of Creative Onlinemedia Inc.

Site visitors can view mini-webpages and listings in over 32 major industry categories and nearly 350 products sub-categories from agriculture to utilities, among others. Redpages.ph offers its premium members hundreds of professionally designed website templates to choose from to suit a particular company’s business.

All companies under the premium listing are given industry-specific website templates that suit them.

Once a company has decided to upgrade into the premium business listing, redpages.ph offers the added benefit of having the premium member’s company or business undergo a verification procedure by a third party to ensure that all the listed companies are legitimate and trustworthy businesses.

Redpages.ph has engaged the services of Dun & Bradstreet, a US-based company that provides international and US business credit information and credit reports, for the authentication process, which is done on an annual basis.

“Our primary objectives are to promote e-commerce within the Philippines and utilize the Internet to connect local businesses with local and international buyers, vendors, trade facilitation bodies and government institutions. We hope to enable Filipino businesses to create a place for themselves in the online world and get their share out of this fast growing trade channel,” Maclang said.

The company is also engaged in search engine optimization technology by continually updating Yahoo and Google of their listed companies so that searches would automatically redirect to their redpages website and put businesses and companies listed on its directory on top of the list.

True enough, eight out of 10 companies listed in redpages.ph get top search results on Google.

Indeed, gone are the days when businesses have to place high advertisement cost on traditional print ads and phonebook listings. With cost-effective advertising that offers a broader reach, the Web-based way of doing business is now the demand of the times.

“On our part, we are making selling and buying easy,” said Ng.

Ng expects to have 500 premium membership account upgrades by the end of this year and at least 2,000 by next year. There are estimated 1.3 million domestic enterprises that can be listed in redpages.ph.

Ng could only dream that they would someday become the premier local search engine of the Philippines.

There are long-term goals, including public listing in the stock market, but for now Ng would rather concentrate on strengthening and building up their capacity.