Absol Internet Business Solutions (Pty) Ltd re-launched the new YFM website (www.yfm.co.za) on the 1st of March 2004. YFM, whose listenership stands at over 1.7 million weekly listeners (RAMS 2003A), has a strong, long-standing relationship with Absol and left all aspects of the redevelopment of their on-line business strategy in Absol' capable hands.

The new YFM website, a portal for today' South African youth, not only supplies up to date news, events and information regarding YFM, but also allows the station' listeners to communicate with each other directly on the website via the 24-hour discussion forums.

“The discussions really are the focal point of the new Website”, says Alex Shiells, Absol' Project Manager and coordinator of the new Website launch, “we have had a tremendous response from users; over three hundred new registrations on the first day of operation.”

“YFM understand that the most important part of a successful internet presence is catering to your users and customers”, says Mac Anamourlis, Managing Director at Absol, “by doing so, they have generated a high volume of traffic by an extremely loyal fan base in a very short space of time.”

Competitions, user voting polls, secure login/registration and a comprehensive image gallery were all made possible by the powerful features and functionality of Absol' flagship product, AbsolPublisher. Over the past 5 years, AbsolPublisher has evolved into a flexible, scalable, user-friendly and feature rich Internet content management system and was the perfect candidate for YFM' needs, as echoed by clients such as the Department of Communications, NEMESA, CosmeticWeb and World Wide Worx, who also use the product.

Andrew Kinnear, Absol' Systems Architect and administrator of the AbsolPublisher system; “AbsolPublisher has gone through many phases, with our latest version completely redefining the way websites are managed and content is delivered. This allowed us to reduce YFM' development time to about a week and a half.”

Absol realises the importance of interactivity when it comes to providing on-line solutions; the website allows visitors to listen-in to YFM via the streaming internet audio link, a feature which has large appeal to South Africans abroad. Visitors can also contact their favourite DJ' directly from the website as well as view the current on-air DJ and show information.

Alex Shiells: “We do hope to see many more of YFM' listeners embracing technology and the Internet, and contributing to the technological development of this country. There is a definite value in connecting people through technology.”