An Analysis of Some Favorite Websites

The assignment for my social media class tonight; is to find two of the most frequented websites that I like to visit, and analyze them for their aesthetics and principles of good web design.  Why they are effective, what could be improved, and what makes me come back to them.

At first I was having a hard time to think of some sites I like to frequent. I can’t honestly say I keep up with all the popular websites - but I am trying to do that more - now that I am becoming an expert on social media. I use “My Yahoo” as my home page. What makes it effective for me is the interchangeability of the page.  I have placed a lot of news and content modules on my page; they center on headlines, politics, recent events, and popular culture.

I also have added my LinkedIn account (RSS feeds), so I can see my network contacts, or what the business and professional blogs I’m following are currently saying. I also have modules on the weather, local movie times, and the stock market, which I like to follow up with daily.  Much of what I usually visit on the web, unless it involves doing research for a class, or something I am looking up specifically through Google. I will generally find linked through MyYahoo webpage first.  

What brings me back to Yahoo is they have everything I need, information wise, from the news media to shopping; right there at my finger tips on the front page (my home page).  Yahoo isn’t trying to be a “landing” or “destination page” as their business model; instead it is trying to be a “starting page”, for the internet user and their web surfing activities.

Yahoo is using a good web design with a symmetrical and blocked out content format that is interchangeable on the MyYahoo page; allowing their users to make their own customized starting page or web portal to other web places. They have links located at the top of the page, which are linked to various topics that readers will have interest; such as sports, finance or entertainment. They also have links at top for some social sites like Flickr, which is their partner for managing their users’ photo and image content.

I wasn’t quite sure that the example of the MyYahoo page fit the instructions for this social media class assignment correctly – it essentially is a “Web Portal Page” -not so much a business or ecommerce website. So I toiled a bit to come up with two more websites I wanted to talk about specifically. Until I read my emails today when I had found some websites which I do get some value from quite often.  

The First one is a stock analysis website called “Seeking Alpha.”  Seeking Alpha is sort of like a Wikipedia for stock investors. People can go on there and write public articles or blogs, and do their own analysis on companies/stocks, financial news, and events that are important to investors or traders.  There are mostly experienced traders who write articles or comments on the site. I find the range of expertise usually is from the experienced novice up to a full blown professional stock trader. Many of them are “thought and opinion leaders;” some of them are often shorting a stock, and they will try desperately to persuade others to their opinions - trying to get their readers to sell. It’s rather fun to read the comments between these people, because everyone has a different opinion on where their favorite or not so favorite stocks are headed in price.    

The site is well designed and the content is all blocked out in format - into a two or three column design. It is clean and simple with limited colors, not at all cluttered. And the headings or titles contrast with the content beneath.  It does not have a multitude of social media links available - with only Twitter and Facebook icons - located in the bottom of the footer. Although I do think it has two of the most important or relevant social media tools available, ones that would be of interest to finance professionals or traders who are the most likely to visit the site. Most other types of social media tools wouldn’t be related, or would not create much interest for these more often than likely upscale consumers.  But I do think one room for improvement they could do with the social media tools, is to add the website “LinkedIn” – which is also geared more to the professional and business people. So I am a little confused why that website wasn’t found here. It should be.

What brings me back to the site is the trusted news and financial information from the website administrators, as well as the novice to expert user-commenters, who often have varied opinions on the stock market. I even have an email alert which sends me notices when an article is posted by these users concerning my own holdings. It does a good job of keeping me informed with what might be important to me personally. I also like the headlines feature on their front page – it is dynamic and rotates every few minutes or seconds - re- ordering what top ten articles are being read the most at that moment.   

The other website I like to talk about and visit occasionally is “Ticketmaster.”   It too is very clean with aesthetics and uses a two or three column format for text and content placement, as well as a dynamic heading–banner that changes constantly, highlighting upcoming concerts and events.  Links by genre are located on the left hand side; they are simple, clean and easy to read. Although the simple design is attractive, I think the links and some of the titles in the sidebar could do better, if they stood out a little more, perhaps with bolder fonts or a little more color added.  

One feature I like that keeps me coming back often, besides they are generally a monopoly business for concert tickets; is if you are a registered user, they will know who you are and recommend music that reflects your tastes, from your past ticket purchases, or from the events and bands you were previously  researching online.

It has Facebook Social Media tools embedded right into their pages; where they are highlight upcoming bands. Facebook users following Ticketmaster can make comments on their bands for other followers to see. Ticketmaster is even using these comments as a marketing tool to draw users in to purchase special ticket packages; where they have a chance to meet their favorite artists in person. They make it seem as if the artist is personally inviting them to take a tour of the music arena/venue. It is quite clever.