Plutoz :: The Magazine

In 1999, the Internet was growing at an astonishing pace, with thousands of new Web companies and e-commerce sites coming to the online market every month. Ali Ghafouri, an experienced retailer and marketer, understood the trend, but he was convinced that consumers would not adopt the new Internet market without some trepidation. He recognized that productive Web businesses would be based on:

Ghafouri saw that the time of adoption for the consumers depended on the Internet industry working more quickly, thoroughly and comprehensively to create a truly useful system. The Internet, he determined, urgently needed to provide more robust, focused and functional Web site access and content that users could rely on in daily life for their main transactions and information.

He also noted that the Internet's high-speed infrastructure was not in place and that ISPs were still mostly slow dial-ups. As a result, companies could not always offer timely and relevant content and well-designed Web sites that were inherently user-friendly (most sites at the time were limited to mere text content and low-quality images). Dial-ups were full of frustrating failures and were too slow for many consumers, and they simply avoided making online transactions.

Ghafouri realized that Web consumers were being bombarded with unwanted information, too. Their email accounts were regularly flooded with spam and cookies, ad-trackers, worms and viruses, and e-fraud and identity theft in many guises were on the rise. The Internet was unsafe for many users, and mainstream consumers avoided buying online unless through a select few established, trustworthy sites. So Ghafouri decided to combine the traditional credibility of print articles with the promise of Internet content.

This tandem coverage of the Internet through print and online media, he understood, would deliver the best of a magazine's depth and the Web's breadth. Consumers could learn about e-companies reviewed and recommended by expert researchers through a magazine and then successfully purchase products and services online.

In January 2004, Ghafouri launched NetClearly Magazine, the only print magazine in the nation covering the Internet at the time. NetClearly Magazine's editorial was focused on the most viable and credible sources of Internet information, products and services for online consumers. Also through NetClearly.com, the company presented content with additional site reviews and reports on the latest Web trends while offering members a lively community of likeminded online enthusiasts and consumers.

In 2005, realizing most consumers now use search engines to find and research products and services, Ghafouri derived the idea of creating a new search tool with rich content