With millions
of web sites in existence, how do users decide which locations
they will visit? There are ample options in every category, sometimes
with subtle differences. How a company or an organization makes
themselves a primary target to the average internet user can be
summed up in two words: web appeal. Web appeal describes the methods
in which the design, content, and features of a particular site
work to cohesively to attract and retain web traffic, in addition
to providing more user friendly options than competitors.
Yahoo! is
a great case study that uses web appeal to make one of the most
well known websites out there today. The creators of Yahoo! realized
very early on in the web as we know it today that there was a
strong need for non-experienced users to be able to find their
information quickly and effectively. Understanding the time period,
the internet is just coming of age and user friendly interfaces
are becoming a part of the everyday life. Therefore the last thing
someone wants to do while online is sift through countless numbers
of sites that have nothing to do with what they need. Therefore,
“Jerry and David’s Guide to the Worldwide Web”
which according to Yahoo! was the original name of the site, turned
out to be just what the world needed.
What makes the Yahoo! web appeal so successful is its portal system.
Say a user wants to check out the newest movie in the theaters.
They click on the movies portal, and from there use their zip
code to locate all the movies playing locally. Need more information
on a movie? All they have to do is click on the movie title. This
brings up full a synopsis of the movie, lists of participating
cast members, movie trailers, and last but definitely not least,
reviews from critics all across the country as well as personal
reviews from movie patrons. Realistically in less then five minutes,
a user can become extremely educated about a film, and increase
the chances of finding a movie that they will enjoy. This web
appeal will keep the users coming back for all their future movie
inquiries.
Yahoo! Finance
is another feature / portal that countless numbers of users interact
with on an everyday basis. This portal is so expansive that this
entire paper could be written on it. Most predominantly is the
stock market features such as the reports, portfolios and quotes.
For example let’s assume that a working mother has some
shares of stock that she invested into with her company as part
of her retirement package. She can set up a portfolio which has
all the information on her transactions and therefore get reports
on how much money she has gained or lost. In addition as part
of the portal she can get all the news related to each stock and
even use an online financial firm to purchase more stocks. This
along with everything else that Yahoo! has to offer makes it one
of the most web appealing sites on the net.
Another venue
that attracts millions of viewers each day is sports. One of the
most frequently visited sites with a ton of web appeal is Yankees.com.
Being the most well known team in sports and constantly on the
front page of the top newspapers in the busiest city in the country,
the Yankees have a huge fan base. Therefore Yankees fans from
all across the country come to the site to find out every single
possible detail about the team. This is called the legacy factor.
The site, in effort to meet these needs has up-to-date team and
league stats, scores, profiles, and calendars right at the user’s
finger tips.
Ticket purchases
are what really bring the appeal for the fans. Any fan can go
online and with a few clicks of a button can be good to go for
a game. The user can pick their seats and through the site’s
connection with Ticketmaster they can buy any games for any team.
They can even purchase accessible seating for people with disabilities.
In addition fans can do all-star balloting, purchase Yankee clothing
from the stadium store, and participate in live auctions for authentic
Yankee memorabilia. Overall it takes into consideration all the
typical sports fan needs and provides many reasons to come back
and visit again and again.
The only major
aspect of these sites that could be considered negative is the
amount of material crammed into the page. Both Yahoo! and Yankees.com
have tremendous amounts of information on the page. While this
is often a good thing, bombarding the user with information also
leaves them questions about where to look or what to click, and
because they click on one area they may completely miss the context
of another. However in the larger scheme of things more information
can only help the business and it looks like it is working pretty
successfully in both sites.
Web appeal
is how a company or an organization presents themselves to the
average user. This task can be accomplished from sheer capabilities
(such as Yahoo!), legacy (such as Yankees.com), or a combination
of both. As long as you meet the needs of the user coming to the
site, they will keep coming back for generations to come.
