In line with the Apple Mac image and top-level website the iTunes website design has been done in such a way as to portray a professional and uncluttered image. The use of shades of grey enhances the professional look of the website. The website analysis will show whether the iTunes website is more than a professional online image, but also whether it caters to the needs of its audience, complies with sound SEO techniques, and offers a high level of functionality, usability, and interactivity.

The same CSS menu system is employed at the iTunes website as is at the Apple Mac site. What we see is the practice of registering a separate domain for a particular page of a website. In this case the iTunes section of the Apple Mac website has a domain www.itunes.co.uk registered that leads to the particular iTunes page within the Apple Mac website. This can be beneficial for ranking as the iTunes domain thus shows links to the Apple Mac site (UK). In addition internal linking is also present between the Apple Mac homepage and the iTunes page. The practice ensures more points of entrance to the same site. It would have been problematic if there were mirror sites, but since the domains direct to the same site without duplicate content, the practice is seen as acceptable SEO strategy.

A short overview of the iTunes website will suffice for the purpose of this website analysis. The iTunes and iPods page divides into the following categories:

Users can download iTunes for free at the download section. Internet marketing techniques such as RSS feeds and the option to subscribe to email newsletters in this section are used. Both methods are excellent ways to build email lists and ensure return visits to the website. Digital storage of music is taken to another level at the Jukebox page where users have the advantage of a source list for better organization, creating play lists, still having the advantage of CD covers as they browse, and having the ability to import music from their CD collection to iTunes. Free downloading is once again offered which is one of the reasons why users will return.

The store offers the online shopping facility. As can be expected of Apple Mac, images at the store are of excellent quality, product descriptions are provided and pricing clearly displayed. An extensive range is available. The lay-out is simplistic, making browsing, searching, and overall navigation a breeze. The categories such as music, iPods, and TV are listed on the left side as menu items and abstracts provided with links on the rest of the page.

The synching page offers the same navigation style and includes repeat features ensuring continuity of the theme and navigation. The tutorials page guides the user step by step through the process of downloading and using iTunes. The page however, does take a while to load which may be the result of the focus on image usage for visual attractiveness. Guided tours are provided to learn more about the Apple Mac product. The tips page is well organized and offers quick tips on specific aspects while the iTunes website menu moves to the top level of the page to ensure that the user can navigate within the iTunes website. The gift cards section provides an overview of how gift cards work and provides the same functionality as the other pages mentioned. Apart from the above categories other sections such as partnering with iTunes exist.

The iTunes website is packed with images, videos, and useful information. The images contain ALT tags to ensure that even people that have disabled image viewing capabilities in their browsers will still be able to know what images are displayed. The videos immediately indicate what is required for viewing. Standard web fonts have been used ensuring fairly easy reading. The site map link is displayed at the bottom and if you ever get lost at the iTunes or the Apple website, you will find it a tremendously important page as it is well organized and easy to use.

Search facilities exist throughout the website and even without setting the screen to the highest resolution it is possible to get the optimal experience of the iTunes website. Skilful usage of freebies, email subscription options, RSS feeds and feedback options ensure that Internet marketing targets can be reached.

On the search engine optimisation (SEO) side of the Internet marketing strategy, the iTunes website is also doing well as can be seen from the Google Page Rank of 7. This can also be due to the domain directing to a site within a site (iTunes within the Apple Mac website). In addition, incoming links play an important role when it comes to ranking and the iTunes website has no shortage of that. In conclusion as can be seen from this iTunes website analysis it is a well designed website that provides enough interactivity, excellent content, makes use of images to compliment text, and takes advantage of multimedia to inform and do Internet marketing. Get your free iTunes today by visiting the iTunes website.