Successful Revamp 10best – Other Big Name Travel Websites BEWARE
by Marsha Maung
Oct 1st, 2008
People grow old….websites grow old…brands grow old….degenerating is a very common ‘issue’ in this very real world. My question for you today would be this…do YOU think growing old is an issue on the World Wide Web? No…think about it for a minute.
Taking a look at website revamps, let’s first make a comparison. Let’s compare very quickly, eBay and Amazon. Which one, in your personal opinion is growing old and which is having the internet botox treatment (undergoes regular website revamp) done once every fortnight (OK, that’s an over-exageration but once every month isn’t)?
If your answer is Amazon, you’re amazingly WRONG. Between the two websites, eBay is the one which is growing older and older…and older. I had this discussion with a friend recently, and we agreed that eBay seriously needs a facelift, butt-suck, botox injections and many other new forms of net surgical help! The only thing that can save this aging website is a major website revamp.
As far as functionality is concerned, eBay maintains the quality (and raises the price) of service…people everywhere (especially in the US) purchases their stuff from eBay but the problem is not that…they’re not doing the ‘revamping’ thing quite right. A website cannot retain the same look or contain the same stuff ALL THE TIME throughout DECADES. They need a website revamp once in a while...and don’t get me wrong, the website revamp does not have to be a major one!
I don’t know how long eBay’s been around but it must be more than a decade by now…and yet, there’s nothing truly different about eBay anymore. They’re practically aging while sitting on the wire.
Amazon, on the other hand, have changed and rolled with the changes of consumerism. Adding new tools, new products, features, write-ups, partnerships, expansion of product line…their website revamp strategy includes everything right. That is why, despite retaining their old-school branding, Amazon continues to shine bright.
Change is necessary, as much as expansion is. Don’t think for a minute that once you’ve established your website or your own online brand, there’s no need for a website revamp.
This article was prompted by how I was observing Yahoo!’s travel section. I’ve a couple of clients for whom I write extensively for articles along the genre of tourism, holidays and travel. Hence, I’ve had my eye on Yahoo! travel for a long time. And I am continually amazed by the fact that they’ve changed very little from the time it was launched…any website revamp that was done to their website was minimal! In my eyes, as a user, it’s not quite enough.
I don’t have anything against Yahoo!, of course not, but I just wanted to see a lot more from Yahoo! At the very least, Yahoo!’s travel segment could have changed to a point that it relied less on user input!
User input, feedback and comment…they’re all fantastic – but it’s not the end-all be-all tactic to a website revamp strategy to be used. Even Tripadvisor needs to be a little scared right not…same goes for Travelocity.
The website with the most significant and noticeable website revamp is 10Best. If you’ve not heard of this website before, I don’t blame you but let me tell you that if you’re a fan of traveling, you’ll soon hear a lot more about 10Best. I’ve used their website as a reference for my articles before and I’ve always found them a little more refreshing than the others…nothing astonishingly different…but just more personal. Recently, 10Best underwent a great deal of website revamping.
The website looks, basically, still the same but the website revamp had a lot more to do with function ability, website content, tools, ease of use, inside writers, blogs and incredibly useful articles written by (obvious) professionals. Even if I didn’t have the time (or money) to travel too much these days, I found the articles and content very refreshing in 10best, as compared to the others. Tripadvisor is another website devoid of individual personality; they’re not doing much apart from partnering up with other websites like Facebook and other big names so that their tools, softwares and data are implemented into these partner sites.
That, sadly, doesn’t qualify much as a website revamp for me.
Instead, the effort in revamping 10best is much more substantial. They’ve become bigger, better, bolder and more informational. The writers have made every effort to entice and keep their readers. Don’t believe a word that I have to say – just take a look at all the websites that I’ve mentioned and make the decision yourself.
If you have a website and it’s been around since the dinosaur ages, it might do your website a little bit of good if you made a couple of website revamp here and there….you know, once in a while.
Otherwise, your readers may have to start filing your website url under ‘ancient, to-be-forgotten, hag’.
p.s. 10best pays me nothing to write this. this is just a user-initiated observation. If they want to pay me, I’m not going to argue, though. :-)
*** *** ***
Marsha Maung is a Malaysian-based freelance writer with two kids. She spends her time ferrying her kids around, watering her plants, writing web content, SEO stuff, ghostwriting books and also indulges in the occasional Facebook-ing. Visit her blog for more dirty details on the life and times of a mother, writer, designer, housekeeper, coffee-maker, poop-wiper, chef...and just about everything else under the sun.
REPUBLICATION RIGHTS! IMPORTANT!!
Listen up! I am a very nice person, if you think this article is neat and you'd like to publish it in your website, all's cool with me but with one condition. Only one and from the bottom of my heart, I wish that you would, in all sincerity, allow me my one single wish....to place the following codes into the your website at the END OF THE ARTICLE. It's not going to disrupt much, so please do it?
Either paste the above ABOUT THE AUTHOR stuff into your website (with links included) or copy the following codes into your website. That's it! Thank you! *muax*
<b>Marsha Maung</b> is a Malaysian-based <a href="http://www.marshamaung.com" target="_blank">freelance writer</a> with two kids. She spends her time ferrying her kids around, watering her plants, writing web content, SEO stuff, ghostwriting books and also indulges in the occasional Facebook-ing. Visit her <a href="http://www.marshamaung.blogspot.com" target="_blank">blog</a> for more dirty details on the life and times of a mother, writer, designer, housekeeper, coffee-maker, poop-wiper, chef...and just about everything else under the sun.
 |
| Subscribe to TrulyMarsha |
| Visit this group |