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Yahoo Tool Targets Simpler Web SitesBy Liam Eagle, theWHIR.com
April 23, 2007 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- While the smaller Web hosts add complexity to their offerings, and focus their services farther upstream, the very largest hosts are spreading ever-simpler services across the broad expanse of the mass market.
Yahoo! Web Hosting, already a contender among the very small number of very large organizations targeting the mass market, announced recently that it added a further simplified Web design tool to its offerings, the Yahoo! Site Solution.
The ultra-simplified tool, included free in the price of a hosting package, is designed for the customer that lacks the experience even to confidently operate a site building tool, such as Yahoo!'s existing SiteBuilder product. A businesses seeking to put up a simple three- or four-page site will find that the Site Solution offers a broad selection of customizable templates and layouts ? similar to a service like Google's Google Pages, but configured with content tailored specifically for customers areas of business such as accounting.
The main reason any business puts a Web site online, says Guy Yalif, director of Web hosting products at Yahoo!, is to increase its business, whether that's through incremental leads, additional sales or another means.
"In creating this site building tool," he says, "we were optimizing for that problem specifically. By contrast, the tool just below it, Yahoo! SiteBuilder, tries to solve the generic site building problem. It tries to be everything to everyone and give you total control. Sometimes users who aren't naturally designers, but instead are great small business owners, end up creating sites that don't look that great."
The simple, pointed process, says Yalif, is what makes the product unique. Using the tool is more akin to working with a designer than designing a Web site - which is exactly what a lot of small businesses are looking for.
"The philosophical underpinnings," he says, "the problem this tool is trying to solve, is fundamentally different than SiteBuilder, and the goal we see most of the other tools on the market trying to solve."
Site Solution leads users through a step-by-step checklist of questions designed to build for them exactly the small introductory site they need. Layouts and design templates are applied across the sites, and changes can be applied across the site.
Elements are emphasized for customers seeking specific results. For instance, a customer particularly looking to generate leads can have their contact information posted on every page of the site.
The result, says Yalif, is a product that, with certain features and functions removed, is actually a more effective tool for accomplishing a specific purpose.
"In optimizing for the lead generation goal, we are able to put some rails on the process," he says. "You could call it a bunch of different things. You could call it literally taking away features. Putting it on rails. Or really baking in the expert advice gleaned from looking at a zillion customers into the tool."
While Site Solution is a more focused product, Yahoo! has no intention of replacing its more traditional SiteBuilder product, which incorporates a much broader feature set. The company expects the products to coexist comfortably.
"We see the two living together side by side really well," says Yalif. "If you want total control over your site, SiteBuilder is the way to go. If you want to work offline, SiteBuilder is the way to go. SiteBuilder currently has a larger base of templates. And it's also the place to go if you want to do ecommerce. So we see them living side by side for the foreseeable future."
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