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The BBC Weather site offers weather related updates and information and includes services such as maps, wind speeds and directions, satellite information, lightning, and pressure regions to name, but a few. The information is relevant both for UK citizens and international users. One of the characteristics of a good website is that it stays focused on its audience and eliminates any graphics, information or advertisements which are not relevant to the purpose of the site. As such the website analysis for the BBC Weather site has been done to establish whether the website does indeed address the needs and preferences of users while also adhering to sound search engine optimisation (SEO) guidelines.

The homepage loads fast and so do the sub-pages. The menu driven navigation system, which is located in the upper part of pages, ensures easy navigation and consistency throughout the website. The homepage contains essential links such as the contact page, a help function and printable or text only versions of the site. The weather sub-menu is located on the left pane. One drawback of the home button is that it leads back to the main BBC UK site. If the user wants to return to the BBC Weather homepage from one of the other pages, the back button is the obvious choice. Since the main menu buttons lead to other micro sites within the BBC UK site, the user should make use of the links on the left side of the page for navigation and not the main menu buttons, which is a bit confusing.

A search facility is supplied and although a sitemap may be present at the main BBC UK page, the user will benefit from the provision of a sub-sitemap for the weather micro site located on the BBC Weather page.

That being said, from a website analysis perspective, the BBC Weather page is visually attractive and the website design has incorporated both images and content to make the site interesting. The contrast between background and text is sufficient for readability and the page opens within the space parameters of 640 x 640 pixel settings. No side scrolling is required and the length of the pages is short enough to ensure that the reader stays interested. The homepage of the BBC Weather site has been divided into categories and chunks to ensure a quick overview of what is available.

The website analysis revealed one feature that shows focus on the user needs. The help function which is displayed at the top right corner contains answers to FAQ organized in sub categories. It is comprehensive and ensures maximum usage of the website as most of the navigation concerns are addressed in the section.

People are normally in a hurry and need quick updates on weather conditions. As such the BBC Weather site succeeds in providing immediate information such as a weather forecast on the homepage. When selecting one of the sub categories the user can obtain information about for instance, coastal and sea conditions quickly. Images have been used in conjunction with text descriptions to ensure that the links are fully understood. Once clicked, the user goes through to pages containing quick overviews and in-depth descriptions. Clickable maps make the service even more useful. The images contain ALT tags and load fast. The quality is excellent and the images are relevant to the content.

Although the pages are loaded with information which can be overwhelming, few adverts are displayed and there are also no annoying pop-up ads. Titles are descriptive and so are the links. No dead links were found. Links are immediately clear to the user. Unfortunately the headings displayed on the BBC Weather site at the homepage in the World Weather News box seem like links and are not explanatory.

  • Amazing photos of weather conditions in the gallery and the opportunity for users to become involved through a submission facility.
  • Send to a friend option.
  • Make this my home page option.
  • Print feature.
  • Projects and experiments in weather forecasting and monitoring.
  • Tips on weather conditions and driving, living and participating in sport etc.
  • Leisure guide which includes festivals for the specific season.
  • Weather conditions relating to farming and tips to ensure good crops.

With regards to Internet Marketing the BBC Weather site does exceptionally well. The BBC UK site has a Google Page Rank of 9 which is simply awesome. It has 6,803 000 incoming links at date of website analysis (May 7, 2008). A Metatag with title, author, description and keywords is included. Visit their site for comprehensive information about weather conditions.