You’ve probably been to, or used most of them in the past; they’re the cream of the crop, the best of the best, and it’s by no coincidence they got there either.
Of course I’m talking about the top ten (English) sites as defined by alexa.com, these sites excel in their field, because they know what works and what doesn’t. In this article we’ll explore the principles that drive these mammoth sites to become the most successful sites on the internet.
So what are the similarities that make these top ten sites in the what they are?
Most major sites have three main components that are the driving factor behind their success.
In order of importance they are Content, User Interaction. And Timeliness.
Content – Let’s face it: this is the bread and butter of the internet, people crave information, whether it’s searching, shopping, or reading, everyone on the internet is looking for one basic thing content. Right now, you along with millions of other people are actively taking in information relevant to what you want to know, from the start of the internet age we’ve all heard the metaphor “Content is King”, and it still holds true.
User Interaction – People really “digg” this one (bad pun fully intended); Once we get information on something, be it an article, a news source, even a product listing, we begin formulating our own ideas and opinions on it. This results in an action being taken; See an item on Amazon you like? You read more information on it. Think something is interesting? You might want to look for more resources on it.
Search engines use it to find information. Big web “2.0” sites such as digg.com go as far as being completely based around this principle. Amazon.com realized this and decided to let consumers do their selling for them by letting anyone write a product review, which in turn can be scored by others.
Timeliness – Although not as important as the first two, it definitely deserves a mention; People love juicy new stories and being “in the know”. We’re news-addicts by nature, it’s what keeps us tuned to the weather channel for hours on end as a hurricane runs it’s course. It’s what makes us watch the super bowl year after year though we already know the basic end result. Timeliness has a large effect on how frequently people visit a website and whether they decide to come back.
Now that we know what our three main components are, Let’s take a look at how the top ten sites utilize these principles to fuel their success, along with a breakdown of their strong and weak points.
#10 Go.com – Once one of the biggest search engines and a pioneer of pay-per-click search marketing, Go.com was bought by Disney and turned into a portal of information, covering everything from movie reviews to stock trends.
Content: 7/10
User Interaction: 3/10
Timeliness: 9/10
#9 Wikipedia.com – Wikipedia is the poster child of User Interaction; Allowing people to edit any page on a site would usually seem less like an idea and more like a train wreck of garbled information, but Wikipedia has proven that users can be the sole provider of content and they’ve been very successful as a result, placing them in a very well-deserved top spot of sites on the internet.
Content: 8/10
User Interaction: 9.5/10
Timeliness: 4/10
#8 YouTube.com – You’ve probably heard about YouTube recently. Google paid out a hefty 1.65 Billion dollars to have their share of this cultural phenomenon,. Why? They understand the importance of User Interaction, something this site has down to a fine art, quickly looking through YouTube you can find everything from the latest music videos to videos of shrimp running on a treadmill.
Content: 7/10
User Interaction: 8/10
Timeliness: 9/10
#7 Craigslist.com – Much like Ebay, this site focuses on letting it’s users buy, sell and trade items from practically anywhere, the lure of a good find or quick cash bring in millions of visitors in what would seem to be the world’s largest flea market.
Content: 5/10
User Interaction: 9/10
Timeliness: 9/10
#6 Amazon.com – Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer, and for a good reason, Amazon custom caters to every single one of their customers using a system to figure out their customer’s exact taste. Liked the Da Vinci Code? You can write a review on it, and even have your review commented on. They have the ability to combine user interaction and information like no other retailer in the world. When it comes to figuring out what the end-user wants Amazon certainly knows best.
Content: 8/10
User Interaction: 9/10
Timeliness: 8/10
#5 Ebay.com – eBay is the largest auction site in the world, it’s a lot like Craig’s list, but limited to goods and services only. Still, when people are looking for a great deal, or something they can’t find anywhere else, they flock to Ebay.com.
Content: 7/10
User Interaction: 9/10
Timeliness: 9/10
#4 MSN.com – Another big player in the news portal world is MSN, offering a wide selection of news, advice, and tips, Microsoft’s site always has users coming back for more on a daily basis.
Content: 9/10
User Interaction: 3/10
Timeliness: 9/10
#3 Myspace.com- Although a very recent to the scene, Myspace has seen exponential growth as younger and older people alike log in and socialize, talk, and network with each other without stepping a foot outside their houses, Myspace from the beginning has been based in user interaction, and has used it to power the creation of their entire site.
Content: 9.5/10
User Interaction: 9.5/10
Timeliness: 9/10
#2 Google.com- If Wikipedia was the poster child of User Interaction, Google is the poster child of content, everyone has used or at the very least heard of Google. Although they now are moving into more fields such as video and image, Google works on a basic level of finding the user what they want right away. With their new AdWords program, Google has been raking in Billions of dollars, redirecting people looking for a specific item to advertisers who are more than willing to pay for the exposure.
Content: 10/10
User Interaction:8/10
Timeliness: 7/10
#1 Yahoo.com – Last and not least is Yahoo, the original and still the largest portal on the internet, from mail to stocks to searches, Yahoo has it all, all the Content you could ever want, and all in one place, placing them at number one in the ranks.
Content: 9.5/10
User Interaction: 9/10
Timeliness: 9/10
