Reviewing The New Bowl.com - Part One

If you haven't been to the site this week, the new www.bowl.com has been launched.

Because hand-shake change is a process, I decided to wait a couple of days before making my assessment of it's positives and negatives.

For those who don't know, bowl.com is administered by the United States Bowling Congress, the game's sanctioning body.

And they're under the microscope (or at least should be) of 2 million bowling members.

"The new BOWL.com will become the number Internet destination in the sport of bowling, allowing us to connect with bowlers and fans like never before. Additionally, it will serve as the foundation for many of USBC's core business functions as we move forward," USBC Vice President of Communications Pete Treadwell said.

OK, a lot of braggadocio which is to be expected. But as a reviewer of websites, I look for one thing that must be at the top of the list for changed sites.

Easy navigation after the change. And the reason why is simple. People are creatures of habit. Most people do things repetitively. And after many years, those of us in bowling have come to navigate www.bowl.com in a certain manner.

How much will that change with the new layout? Here goes.

The main layout above the fold (in Internet terms, the first visual before a scroll-down) is good. The "gateway box" underneath the masthead has that television screen aspect ratio which I like and the tool bar features the priorities and organized them properly from left to right.

The tool bar font and contrast needs to be enhanced since the front page background is dark blue.

The page length fully scrolled is appropriate; not too long, not too short.

I like the news window in the right column above the fold and the light color contrast to the rest of the page makes it stand out well.

With that, there are some front page issues they should change:

One - Get rid of the ad banner above the masthead (the title of a Internet site or newspaper). The primary reason we go to the site is to read news and get information. Some of us buy items online, but it's not the priority each time we visit. Ad banners above the masthead produce a cluttered look. Drop it down underneath the gateway box and before the features section OR put in in the right column with the other ads. It'll provide a nice section break and still give people the opportunity an easy method to click-and-buy.

Remember where the Search For item such as associations, your membership information, etc. was located on the old site? On top in the left column. The new site? On top, in the right column.

Again, this is a site where people go to get information. Most of the people that visit www.bowl.com are the stakeholders of the organization, the most important asset of the USBC. We read from right-to-left and priority should be the first thing one sees - on the left. Move this Search For drop down box to the upper right column. The drop down box is a much more user friendly than the old sight.

However, there is a new feature on this page that I like a lot; a social website tool box gateway to branded sites such as You Tube, MySpace, Friend Feed and others. Once you select one, you'll be taken to the USBC-created GrowTheSport site on that social page. A smart move.

But I'm not really wild about the name. GrowTheSport? Major missing piece - what sport? This is the Internet and the one constant for highly successful sites is a creative name that is remembered by viewers and even better if it becomes part of a person's vocabulary. Everyone knows Google - did you know the name was created some 50 years ago by a mathematician who created a number with a digit followed by 100 zeros? He asked his young son what it looked like, and the kid said it looked like a GOOGLE.

The rest is history. History won't remember the mathematician but it will remember how powerful Google is in our everyday life. And that's what the USBC needed to do with this brand name. I have at least three brand names that have never been registered with the word bowling in it. I won't disclose them here. I was a pretty good brand creator after 30 years in the media and I get paid for my exceptional brain work. Who knows, I may just register those three names myself and see if anyone bites on 'em.

Getting back to the main elements of the page: The tool bars for the features box and the featured bowlers boxes are too small and cramped and don't match up with the box's aspect ratio. Make them larger and make them stand out more.

By the way, in feature bowlers, no tab for PBA exempt players or those in the women's series? C'mon on! More people follow the PBA than Team USA, college, high school, etc.

In conclusion, I like the bowl.com front page. Much better than the old site. Get's a B grade from me. Could be better, but I've seen much worse.

Good job USBC - but think about the changes I recommended. They make sense - for a reason.