Numerous blogs and websites have been re-launching over the past two years as the war continues (more than ever …) for your pageviews.
First it was a rush to embrace ‘rich media’ (using mostly Adobe’s Flash and more recently Microsoft’s Silverlight and HTML5) …. to deliver more content in less space.
This year, the move is on to what I like to call the ‘basic four’. Simplicity, Social, SEO and a dash of PPC. In reality, with Google (the pioneer of simplicity?) adding Twitter to their main index search results, the basic four is actually now five incorporating, where possible, real-time updates.
In a conversation a few minutes ago on Google Buzz, I commented “If you need a book (or you need to watch a video) to use it, it’s probably an out-of-the-box fail”.
There are examples of this all over the web but a simple comparison to the rapid adoption of Google Buzz compared to Google’s Wave tells that story.
Two days from now, one of the premier weather information providers on the web (and elsewhere) will be launching a brand-new look. The countdown has been ongoing on the site for several weeks.
A long-time user of Accuweather.com (as well as their premium services), I was somewhat skeptical.
After all, MSN still has their ‘simplified look’ in preview mode. Yahoo completely overdid it with the multitude of (annoying) mouseovers … and the new AOL is well, still wasting a lot of white space while overloading the left side directory.
The new AccuWeather is right on.
It’s clean, uncluttered, easy, very social, and yes, the new articles now update in real-time without a refresh.
Delivering the content you are looking for is VERY straight-forward.
Maybe a touch more SEO on the back pages … but something tells me that’s coming. The company has been pretty good at keeping up with those trends and changes.
Should NBC’s Weather.com be a little worried?? Despite the TV play, at the very least ….. they have a lot of catching up to do.
See what you think.
You can view the new AccuWeather.com testing in Beta right now here.
Important: AccuWeather.com is a registered trademark if AccuWeather Inc. Use of proprietary images, other trademarks, servicemarks and copyrights may only be used with express written permission of the company.
Charlie Anzman
Charlie Anzman blogs at SEO and Tech Daily. He is the founder and owner of Anzman Consulting, an Internet marketing firm with a long history of helping clients grow ...
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