Why the New AccuWeather.com Website is a Win (and a Sneak Peek!)

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 (IE: any new service or website...), it's probably an out-of-the-box fail".

There are examples of this all over the internet 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 (in my humble opinion) with the multitude of front page mouseovers ... and the new AOL is, well, still wasting a lot of white space while overloading the left side directory.

The new AccuWeather.com 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 I'd guess that's coming.  The company has been pretty good at keeping up with those trends and changes.


See what you think.

You can view the new AccuWeather.com in Beta right now here.

Important: AccuWeather.com is a registered trademark if AccuWeather Inc.  Use of proprietary images, other trademarks, servicemarks and/or copyrights may only be used with express written permission of the company.

Update 1: Only because I received 1 message already (Ugh!!!!).....  FTC disclosure: I have never been compensated by AccuWeather in any way other than a very impressive tour of their facility (which did not include lunch .... :).