Captology Notebook: Top Web Behavior #6: Make it your homepage

« Every morning this week | Main | Subject: Top Web Behavior #5: Log in »

July 31, 2004

Top Web Behavior #6: Make it your homepage

The Behavior
Every site wants to be your homepage. After all, if you choose them, you'll see their latest offerings every time you log in. Many sites (such as Yahoo! or MSN) allow you to create a custom page, with links to your favorite sites, news stories that match criteria you choose, and a quick glance at your portfolio (along with myriad other doodads) to use as your homepage. Other sites, like Google, try to rely on their usefulness alone, subtly coaxing you with a link at the bottom of the page to "Make Google Your Homepage!".

What they gain (and you lose)
This, perhaps surprisingly, is one of the less nefarious behaviors we came across. When you make a site your homepage, you increase their traffic, and you're probably more likely to use their services. But you're making the site your homepage because you like it, so the trade is mutually beneficial. Beyond that, there's not much of a hidden gain on the part of the site, at least that we can see. (Written by Adam Wright)

Gallery
...

CNN.com