With no video, no search optimization, no slide shows, and a design that is right out of mid-’90s manual on HTML, The Drudge Report provides 7 percent of the inbound referrals to the top news sites in the country.
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David Carr in “How Drudge Has Stayed on Top” (Related: “Why the Drudge Report is one of the best designed sites on the web” at Signal vs. Noise)
David Carr in “How Drudge Has Stayed on Top” (Related: “Why the Drudge Report is one of the best designed sites on the web” at Signal vs. Noise)
Micheal
on 16 May 11The Drudge Report isn’t successful because of the design … the site is successful because Matt Drudge is the best online news editor around.
In a world of automated online news aggregation, people have forgotten what tremendous value an editor provides.
This is the same reason why people read Gruber for tech news. Old established news sites should hire Drudge to be their editor of their online frontpage and Gruber for tech frontpage.
David Minton
on 16 May 11Sometimes we need to be reminded “it’s about the content, stupid.”
Chris (from L.C.)
on 17 May 11While Drudge is very good at what he does, the fact remains that just because a ton of people use it, it doesn’t mean it’s great (or even just good).
Quotes like these give people who NEED every advantage license to ignore the things that might help get them noticed, and assume they’ll strike it lucky because of their skill/wit/glowing personality/devilish good looks/etc. In the real world, it doesn’t work that way. Drudge has been at it for 15 years. His success did not come because his design is old or he doesn’t optimize for search.
It came because he put in YEARS of solid editorial work….not being quirky.
Nic
on 17 May 11And it does have search. Just goes to show, even SVN needs an editor… :-)
Jordan
on 17 May 11Nic: nobody says it hasn’t got search (the quote, which SvN could hardly alter even if it was incorrect, says it has no SEO).
Dominic Pettifer
on 17 May 11I’m reminded of Jason Fried when he said “Build something useful” in an interview he did once, I guess the The Drudge Report has done just that.
Anonymous Coward
on 18 May 11Hmm.
First: lots of bad things and bad people have cult followings. Witness the TEA party, the birthers, Charlie Sheen.
second: the statement that “[t]he Drudge Report provides 7 percent of the inbound referrals to the top news sites in the country” is so ill-posed as to be utterly meaningless. It’s the kind of thing an undergraduate who hasn’t quite done their homework would write. The 7 adds the illusion of some accurate estimate that presumably validates the thesis underlying the article.
No offense to Carr or Drudge, both of whom have done and will continue to make great contributions. The quote above just isn’t one of them.
This discussion is closed.