TheStreet.com Redesign

The long overdue redesign of TheStreet.com (TSCM) is up:

It looks to be a modest improvement over the sprawling mess of the old site. It will take me a few days to figure out if it is very much of an improvement.

Both TheStreet.com's original content and Seeking Alpha's aggregation have overwhelmed me with an immense amount of content. Its reached the point that I no longer find myself reading anything off of the home page -- it slides off way too quickly as new articles are added. Rather, what I end up doing is reading specific writers (Kass, Helene, Shark, etc.).

Over time, I have created my own list of go to guys: Monoline Insurers? Yves Smith's naked capitalism. Mortgage lenders? Calculated Risk. Dow theory? Richard Russell. Earning analysis? Zachs, and Bespoke Group. etc. etc. etc.

Is this a broad trend? I suspect I am not the only one who approaches information gathering / analysis in discrete bites.

Sometimes, less is more . . .

Comments

[Long-ShortGuy]

They're now cutting every article into two pages instead of four. I wonder whether that will lead to a drop in their page views and ad revenue.

[mark mchugh]

Barry,

You are not alone in how you sift through content. Furthermore, YOU are one of the "go to" guys yourself (like it or not). Some guys are informed, honest (or at least well-intentioned) and know how to cut to the chase, and you save time by skipping right to them. Also, they are the guys who don't mind pointing to someone else, rather than passing it off as their own work. In investing (and life) knowing who to trust is the battle. You should count yourself among the trusted (nice job on CNBC the other day).

mark

[Lisa]

The new TSCM website is a big play on video. If video ads pay off, this will be great for the stock. If people don't have the patience for video (like me), it won't.

[DavidJackson]

I love the fact that we published Barry's criticism of Seeking Alpha. Do other readers agree with him that our home page is overwhelming, and what suggestions do you have for how we can improve it?

-- David Jackson, Seeking Alpha founder

[Lisa]

Question: Is TSCM's new website more or less Cramer-centric than the old one?

[GKM]

I don't find Seeking Alpha's home page overwhelming. I usually scan it in morning and then check the Editor's Picks and Most Popular at the end of the day to see what I might have missed.

Keep up the good work!

[blah-blah]

Long-Short Guy - interesting point, I wonder what the reasoning for that is. They used to love to shove as few words as possible per page to max revenue.

[Frank Li]

Full Disclosure: I'm short TSCM, and this isn't my real name as I'd like to stay anonymous.

If you look at TSCM's new site, you'll see that Stockpickr seems to have almost disappeared.

Here's what I think is going on. According to Compete.com, Stockpickr's traffic has flat lined at 250k users per month, and is actually down from August. The chart is here:

siteanalytics.compete....

If TSCM has basically folded Stockpickr into its main site and downplayed it, that shows that TSCM isn't making headway with the next-gen platform that it spent a lot of time talking up on its calls, such as this one:

seekingalpha.com/artic...

I'm short the stock because:

1. I think TSCM will get hit hard in an ad downturn,
2. The stock has shown relative weakness,
3. TSCM seems to get most of its traffic from Yahoo Finance, which is risky in the long run
4. It's too dependent on Jim Cramer, whose stock picking record doesn't beat buying an index fund,
5. It's not having success in innovating, as Stockpickr shows.

[rmgreenwald]

It will take a short adjustment period for me to determine if the TSCM new layout is an actual improvement. In general, anything that would provide more CONTENT per page vs. the advertising will be a welcome relief. In terms of Stockpkr: I always felt that it was designed as part of an ADHD therapy session.

[livory]

I've noticed a section of the old website that is missing. On the RATINGS page, there used to be a daily list of the 5 top rated stocks in each of 5 categories (hi growth, overall, large cap, small cap, etc). Has anyone found this, or know if it will come back?

[User 104879]

I'll also start with a disclosure: I'm the Web Designer for Seeking Alpha.
It's actually my first time commenting, so be gentle ;-)
(i guess it took TSCM's re-design to pull me out of my shell, which already means they've done a good job ;)

1. It's really important for me to know what our readers think about the site design, how usable and friendly they find our way of presenting the content and if there are any suggestions for improvement/requests. So, to everyone who's taken the time to comment here, or in any other article: Thank you. Knowing what actual users think really helps to improve the user-experience.

2. TheStreet.com Redesign - in terms of aesthetics, readability and layout (which are pretty much all the terms i'm certified to judge by) it looks pretty good, in any case much better than before.

An episode:

Today i was about to show a new designer in our team what I think of as the worst designed financial site on the web, for which purpose i naturally chose thestreet.com. But when i pressed "return" on my keyboard, the effect was ruined...and as i was staring, surprised, into the screen, the new designer said: "Not only is it not as ugly as you promised, i think there's some stuff that actually work better then on ours'..."

[mark mchugh]

To User 104879:

I am comfortable with the SA design. My biggest complaint is that the search box doesn't work consistently, because I like to search author's names to see if they written anything new. I usually get a "Sorry, something went wrong.." message. I use Firefox as my browser (if that matters). Other than that, I am quite comfortable here. Like GKM, I scan the Editor's picks and Most popular regularly.

I come here for the great content, diversity of viewpoints and intelligence of the editors. If you lose that, I won't be back, no matter how cool the site looks and flows.

The reason I started to come to Seekingalpha was Judith Weil's "Housing Bubble and Real Estate Market Tracker" by googleing "housing bubble." What I admired was her conviction (to call a duck, a duck) and SA's willingness to publish a regular report with such an opinionated title. What found here was a site that was focused on truth and making money, not being politically correct and wishy-washy. I am just a smidge concerned that Judith has changed the title to "Housing Market Tracker", because if you guys are getting PC on me..........

Just one more thought from me, I HATE video on web sites. I come here to read things people thought out in advance. I'll turn on my TV when I want to see blathering idiots.

[DavidJackson]

Mark,

Thank you for your feedback! We're about to upgrade our search dramatically. The quality of search should be much, much better, and you'll also be able to filter searches, for example to view search results only in transcripts.

We've had an internal discussion about personalization. Would you like to be able to set the Seeking Alpha home page so it automatically shows headlines from your favorite authors?

[mark mchugh]

David,

I Like the idea of being able to tag certain writers as favorites. Some of the best pieces are written by people who don't write regularly, and I can't always remember their names.

One of my favorite things about SA is the diversity of sources that you guys publish. I've read great pieces from college students and crap-on-a-stick from wall st. know-it-alls. A big part of what keeps me coming back is fresh perspective. Please don't lose that.

[Judy Weil,SA Editor]

Hi Mark,

Glad you like the Housing Market Tracker-- but no worries, we aren't getting P.C. on you. We actually shortened the title so that we could add on more of a description of what the post contains.

Some Market Tracker's contain macro information, some are about homebuilders, some are subprime-related, and so on. It makes it easier for the reader to choose only what interests him/her. And hey, the shorter the title the better. (Less is more-- see above!)

I hope, however, that the title doesn't give it a bias. The point of the Market Tracker is to present quotes taken from articles-- without commentary on our part-- so that readers can form their own impressions about what's happening in the U.S. housing market.

Either way, we really appreciate your feedback. It helps us to see what works and what doesn't. So feel free to keep commenting on the good and the bad.

And for the record-- I'm with you 100% on the videos.

All the best,

Judy

[Frank Li]

"DOW JONES NEWSWIRES: TheStreet.com (TSCM) said Tuesday that it extended the employment term of its co-founder Jim Cramer to April 15.

Cramer, host of CNBC's "Mad Money," will continue to receive a $1 million salary, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Under the terms of a previous extension entered in December, Cramer's employment agreement with the financial news company was set to expire on Feb. 15.

Cramer serves the company as a commentator and as an adviser to Chief Executive Thomas J. Clarke Jr. He also serves on the company's board and is the company's largest shareholder."

Am I the only person wondering why the contract extension was for only 2 months, like last time?

Full disclosure: short TSCM.

[Lisa]

Compete.com numbers are now out for February. TSCM traffic down 14.7% month over month in February. Looks like the new website isn't a success. Data here:

siteanalytics.compete....