Yahoo targets women with new 'Shine' site

Updated 8:45 a.m. PDT with site being launched.

Yahoo launched a new Web site aimed at women on Monday. The site, called "Shine," will feature original blogs and content from major publishing partners including Conde Nast, Hearst, and Time.

The site is Yahoo's latest foray into vertical sites, which include the popular Yahoo News and Yahoo Finance, as well as Sports and Entertainment, and the much less popular Yahoo Tech and Yahoo Green. Shine is also Yahoo's first targeting a specific audience and not just a topic.

The front page of Yahoo's Shine is clean and, at least right now, light on ads.

(Credit: Yahoo)

Yahoo aims to be the top destination site in the lifestyles category, said Amy Iorio, general manager of Lifestyles at Yahoo. Women as a demographic is a good target, particularly given the number of women who use Yahoo (40 million women between the ages of 25 and 54 every month) and the fact that females tend to blog more than males.

"This is really a key audience for Yahoo," she said. "We've been calling them 'chief household officers' internally."

Yahoo's efforts at doing original content haven't all panned out, but this site is more of a hybrid. Articles and original blogs will come from a range of sources, including Glamour, Epicurious.com, Style.com, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar, Women's Health, and Good Housekeeping.

Eight editors are overseeing the various sections (such as home, parenting, fashion, culture, and career) and the editor in chief is Brandon Holley, former editor in chief of Jane magazine.

Shine readers will be able to start their own blogs and that content, if deemed worthy, can end up as some of the featured content in different sections on the site.

You will also be able to get to your Yahoo Mail on Shine, and there is integration with Yahoo Search, Food, Health, and Astrology. But there could be even more integration with things like Yahoo Messenger and Yahoo Answers.

The site will compete with iVillage and fashion- and celebrity-news heavy Glam.com, but its content partners and editors will set it apart, Holley said. Shine will distinguish itself by having more of an editorial voice than the other sites and by interacting more with readers, she said.

On a quick glance, Shine looks more aesthetically appealing and less cluttered than the rival sites, despite the fact that Yahoo is not exactly known for simple site design. The site will be at http://shine.yahoo.com.

[thepixelarchitect]

Umm, "...and the much less popular Yahoo Tech . . ."

According to ComScore, Yahoo! Tech consistently generates more
monthly PVs than CNET Reviews, so what does that say about the
CNET offering?

I guess CNET is much, much less popular???

[LittleGreenLeaves]

Why not improve Yahoo?

Clean up the quirks in Yahoo and we'd use it more. Shine sounds like Yahoo's overspending on the wrong stuff. This is inspiring me to head off to Bloomberg.com and check out possible short sales of the stock...

[aloredo]

Yahoo following vertical trends

As important as APEX is to Yahoo, they've finally figured out that verticals is the way to go if they want premium brand advertising. Check out this story on USA Today with one of the most relevant media organizations for women -- Martha Stewart.

www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2008-03-30-ad-networks-internet-martha-stewart_N.htm

The key factor is authority, and Martha Stewart developed that over the years with her audience. I don't think Yahoo can develop this overnight.

[michael_o]

Is this ugly?

Funny that's what they grabbed for the screen capture. Are poorly executed me-too verticals ugly? Do we even have to ask? Bring back TK or sell this beast to MS but get it out of the purgatory Yahoo's Yang and Semel boxed it into.

[mpiol]

Another one please...

Please make one for men, because this looks great, my wife spent 1
hour browsing it today...God design, layout, content... Please make
one for men

[Cwadsgo]

Shine

I find it very humerous that the smart people
at google dosen't know what a shine is

[amy.licious]

Oh this is sooo cool...

...they should start one for guys, merge the two and call it Yahoo 360. Push ad's for women at our pages and for men at their pages, but that would've been too easy. ~sigh~

[egiuss]

Nothing New!

Check out www.thinklike.co.uk

[ThankGodForMommy]

I started to use shine, being a 35 year old woman. I was disappointed at what the women there liked to talk about-perfect example the article & photo above. I left the community. However, I still have my articles & blogging on Shine due to their quickness & high ranking on Google. Thanks to Yahoo's advertising. I figure I will swim the direction of the current-but it is not where I spend any time.

www.ThankGodForMommy.com