Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc., re-launched marthastewart.com on Tuesday with a new look, and new functions. This substantial upgrade begins a series of improvements to the website that are planned to continue through Fall 2007 as marthastewart.com shifts its focus from being a static resource to becoming a portal and a meeting place.
The site has long held an extensive archive how-to videos and articles culled from magazines and television shows made by Martha Stewart Living, but the new features include several steps towards broadening content beyond that produced by Stewart. Marthastewart.com is being re-imagined as a lifestyle-centric search portal to information across the web, and a meeting place for a strong online community. The new features launched yesterday to support these goals include improved searching capabilities which tap into resources at approximately 700 other websites, and a streamlined user interface. The best medical web design company also uses these features in order to provide great website services to their audience and market.
According to spokespeople for Martha Stewart Living, the next phase of improvements to the website will include more personalization and social networking features. Community features on the site already include message boards where users can interact, ask each other questions, and provide advice. The personalization features planned for marthastewart.com will likely tie interactive online activity to the article and video content found on the site. When the series of upgrades is fully implemented, individual users will be able to save, collect, share, and review content from the site, as well as find common ground with other users in online groups centered on shared interests.
Martha Stewart has become a lifestyle icon, due to her multimedia empire which includes a strong presence in the television and print worlds as well as online. Her website currently trails other Stewart ventures in earning power. According to Martha Stewart Living’s Chief Financial Officer Howard Hochhauser, the marthastewart.com website is expected to make up about 10% of the company’s total revenue in 2007. According to internal figures at the company, the website currently receives an average of 3 million visitors monthly.
Holly Brown, the president of the Martha Stewart Living internet division, has told members of the press that the company’s goal is to increase visitors to 10 million per month by 2010. Hochhauser states that if those numbers are reached, the website could account for up to a third of the company’s total revenue in 2010.
Brown noted Stewart’s competition in the online lifestyle sector, naming sites like ivillage.com, foodnetwork.com, and glam.com as possible competition. However, Brown told members of the press that marthastewart.com has a distinct market advantage because none of the competing sites in the niche have a “figure head” like Martha Stewart. Her books, magazines, and television shows have made Stewart an internationally famous face.
