I know I'm a bit out of date when it comes to Squidoo news but forgive me, I've been abroad for almost one month and it's hard to cope with all the news that are announced in our backoffice and on HQ's center.
So, Squidoo introduced a new home page. Well, to be honest, I liked the previous one very much and was accustomed to it. To say the truth, while we're supposed to accept the change, we should also enjoy some traditions: after all, when working at creating your personality and your signature, you work for long, building trust between you and your readers, your customers or whatever. You build your reputation using pictures or graphics and writings. If you change your picture or your name, people won't know who you are any more.
This happened to a well known brand in Europe few years ago: Iglo, which is a brand that produces frozen products. They have a large category of food for kids in their "Cap'tain Iglo" line of products. This line featured an old fisherman wearing a captain cap. This old fisherman was replaced with a picture of a young boat captain because, you know, change is good for people.
Change is sooooooooooooo good that sales dramatically dropped. Actually the old fisherman was viewed as a grandfather, he was viewed as a reassuring icon. When they realized the mess, Iglo took a 180° turn and reinstated the old fisherman on their products which led in an increase in sales.
So we have a new home page. I don't like it and find it ugly.
First that big banner on its top with millions people doesn't mean anything to me. Maybe do HQ see this as an illustration of the gathering of thousands of lensmasters writing for their audience, I just see it as an ugly banner filled with million heads that I don't want to see : OK, Squidoo is a community of writers but in the end, I'm alone in front of my computer and if I want to see million people, I just go out. Seeing this banner doesn't add to the credibility of the site either. It's just ugly.
The category line isn't as broad as it should be. Now the former category column wasn't broad either but I don't know, while seeing that column filled with blue links, I had the impression that there would lead me to a larger collection of Squidoo categories. This one is grey, not visible, not appealing. I just find it frustrating.
Then the featured lenses. Well, if I want to see a bunch of images without content, I type pinterest.com in my navigation bar and can see thousands of images like these. The way the home page is designed doesn't appeal me. It's just a bunch of pictures that don't add credibility.
Lastly, featured lensmasters. This one is a good idea, I like it. Though I think that the featured lensmasters should change and not always be the same.
Instead, people might just come to our new home page and think they are on another site and just close that page to find a site that will provide them the information they're looking for. On the other hand, I might just be wrong and this home page works probably well...
OK another negative post from me. I know... But these days I don't have faith in Squidoo's future...
Time will tell.
Posted by Squidoo Angel Prosperity66
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