The Story Of NZS.com

At the start of 2000, Avatar Director Mark Rocket undertook extensive research on New Zealand search engines and directories. Finding there was no easy-to-navigate directory or effective search engine to find New Zealand websites, Rocket decided to fill the gap with the NewZealandSites.com directory, launched in December 2001.

If you're searching for New Zealand content on the World Wide Web, it's sometimes difficult to find what you're looking for amongst the masses of international websites. The NZS.com directory provides New Zealanders with an easy way to locate New Zealand websites and online resources. Focused exclusively on New Zealand websites, the directory has a logical category structure and contains quality, human edited listings.

NZS.com combines the directory with a local search engine, ideal for getting relevant results from a range of categories across the directory. The exciting transition from directory to search directory took place in 2002, with the development of RocketSearch. This powerful search tool drew information from all listings on the site to produce highly relevant search results.

February 2004 saw the advent of a new era for the site, as NewZealandSites.com became the shorter, snappier NZS.com. Along with the punchy new domain name came a fresh new face for the directory.

A few people have asked why we went for a .com instead of a .nz, the quick answer is:

• .com is shorter and punchier than .co.nz, and nicer for branding
• .com is generally perceived as an international domain, and we see NZS.com as being an internationally useful resource of New Zealand content (our target audience are both Kiwi and overseas viewers)
• people can still use www.nzs.co.nz and be redirected to to NZS.com

During 2006, the NZS.com team worked hard to improve the directory structure for better usability and added many more listings to become the largest New Zealand online directory. In 2007, NZS.com has moved ahead in leaps and bounds, adding new features including Maps, an Articles section and a Blog with contributions from everyone on the NZS.com team. In October 2007, a complete redevelopment of the site's back-end has been complemented by an updated look for the site. Today, NZS.com is the largest, most comprehensive New Zealand search directory, consistently ranking as the most popular local directory and search tool.

Read more about the beginnings of NZS.com from Mark Rocket or view the about NZS.com page.