While I don’t like reading USA Today as a print publication. The Web site does a good job addressing things that consumers want. It offers a lot of service–more importantly, personalized service.
The Marketplace bar offers the practical areas that Internet users are interested in, including jobs, cars and shopping. I thought it was creative that the marketplace also offers connections to online degrees as online schools have grown in popularity. These sorts of links are sure to generate page views and make USAToday.com a portal for Internet users. It would be good if the marketplace bar included real estate.
The site has also embraced the idea of creating an online community. Users can personalize the forecast, become a member of the USAToday.com community and see different comments made by other users right at the top of the page.
I like the news blog, although I think the link should be more prominent. The blog is perfect for people with a few minutes to get the news highlights. Though it is not as personalized as a news feed can be, it gives a good overview for people who don’t have RSS feeds.
I like that the site only lists three of its blogs high on the homepage. Many times newspaper sites get it wrong by listing too many blogs in small type, making the user experience overwhelming and creating a paradox of choice. If a user is interested in seeing more blogs, there is a link to the full list. And even that list splits the blogs into workable categories such as tech and money.
