JEDDAH — Here we are in 2007 and arranging weddings online in Saudi Arabia is still not a popular activity for Saudi brides. If that’s the case now, what was the case when the first Saudi website for wedding planning started five years ago?

When Nihad Al-Sulaimani, the 32-year-old founder and owner of saudiafrah.com, was a 24-year-old graduate of computer science, she was preparing for her wedding night and found it difficult to go from one place to another preparing for her special day.

“I was at a loss in finding the best singers, florists and everything else related to the occasion,” she said.

Al-Sulaimani thought of making the road shorter for young brides-to-be her age who are about to get married and collect all the details they would need in their wedding party in one website which she called www.saudiafrah.com.

The idea was still in her mind and started to flourish after she gave birth to her first baby. After the birth she resigned from her computing job at a private hospital to become a full-time mom, but her itch to work persisted. She thought of a way to use her education and talents in computers and at the same time be able to take care of her child.

In 2000, the young entrepreneur began the process of setting up her web venture with the help of her sister Nuha, who is Saudi Afrah’s public relations manager, and her friend Dina Hakeem.

“Starting the website allowed me to use my knowledge and skills and at the same time be close to my children,” she said.

Al-Sulaimani started by retaining a lawyer and registering with the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI). She then set out to promote her venture.

Web commerce was virtually nonexistent in Saudi Arabia at the time among the population of end-consumers. Al-Sulaimani went around to beauty salons, fashion shops, entertainment representatives, florists, and other wedding-related businesses. The website also offers names of religious marriage official.

Some of the retail clients welcomed the idea of putting their information on the website for an SR500 annual fee with a no-cost three-month trial. Others were skeptical of such online promotions. Florists and producers of wedding invitations were the most interested. Today, the fee is SR1,500 per year.

One of the issues Al-Sulaimani had to deal with was the suspicion of her retail clients who were wary of posting images of their products out of fear that their ideas would be stolen. But Al-Sulaimani endured the SR20,000 startup cost and in two years she managed to cover her operating costs and earn a little profit. Today the company earns SR10,000 per year for the three women.

“We divided the money equally even if the effort of each person sometimes wasn’t equal due to circumstances,” she said, adding that nevertheless money isn’t everything. “I will not lose my friends over money.”

Part of the business model included offering discount cards redeemable at vendors who posted advertising on the website. Visitors to the site could apply for the discount card, which included the Saudi Afrah logo, and present these cards at the retailers. This was a way to show the retail clients that their advertisements on Saudi Afrah were paying off.

“Some of them did not have faith in us and wondered if we could guarantee that customers really came to them after they saw the advertisements on our website,” she said.

Like an entrepreneur can tell you, there are always obstacles to overcome.

“These shops would change their workers and the new workers wouldn’t always be aware that these cards were to be honored,” said Nihad, who said they have since been able to iron out this issue with their retail clients.

One of the benefits of a Web-based venture is the global reach of the Web, especially among customers who might, for instance, need to plan an elaborate wedding ceremony. Saudi Afrah gets customers from abroad who are planning weddings locally.

“We were happy to hear people calling us to tell us that they arranged their weddings through our websites and they were grateful to us,” she said.

Another marketing tool used on the site is cross-linking to other sites, such as maktoob.com. This helps both sites boost their page visits. Attending trade conventions has also helped. Al-Sulaimani is moving forward with her vision of becoming a Saudi Internet entrepreneur. She has another venture involving private and international schools, institutes and summer camps for kids in Jeddah. Like her wedding idea, Al-Sulaimani says she got her new plan based on personal experience.

“Whenever I meet with my friends who are mothers of kids, we talk about best schools for our kids. The website offers information about schools and people are free to write the comments they want,” she said.

The new website — www.schooltalksite.com — was launched on Feb. 24. Visitors are allowed to rate the top 10 schools in Jeddah. Al-Sulaimani will later visit the schools and propose the ideas to them offering them their own user names and passwords to be able to update the information of their schools on the website.

Al-Sulaimani is currently only listing the contact information for these schools. She hopes these schools will later pay to have more complete information and interactive features.

Al-Sulaimani is one of a growing number of educated Saudi women who are as savvy with small business ventures as they are with being loving moms.

And they’re doing it by their own rules.