E-Market Paper

E- Market: Do It Yourself

            In the online world today, people can search anything and everything. In America one of the most popularly searched topics is Do It Yourself, or DIY projects and guidelines. The DIY’s or HGTV people according to the VALs system are categorized as the Makers. The Makers express themselves through building things, raising families, and carrying out projects by using constructive skills ("VALS™ | VALS™ Types | Makers | SBI", n.d.). Makers want to know how to make things on their own, so they want to use the internet as a tool to find out how to execute self-made projects. Websites marketed towards them should be traditional and easy to use, because makers like tradition and practicality, DIY Network, and doityourself.com do just that.

According to “Pew Internet and American Life Project”, about 55 percent of American internet users search for how to and DIY guidelines (Madden, Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2005). The demographics of “how to” internet users are made up by more men than women. For, sixty percent of male internet users, use the internet to search for DIY sources, compared to the fifty percent of female internet users (Madden, Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2005). However according to Alexa.com Men are underrepresented at DIY Network and doityourself.com, yet Women are overrepresented ("Diynetwork.com Site Info", "Doityourself.com Site Info" Alexa 2013).

When online users search for demographics on websites that would be geared towards DIY’s , such as Lowes’s website, the ratio from man to female is relatively equal. For example the percentage of males on Lowes.com is forty-one percent, and is fifty-one percent female ("Lowes.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics by Quantcast", 2013). That is only a ten percent difference. The amount of online users searching for DIY information has increased for women and decreased for men.  Both DIY Network and doityourself.com are very unisex. The colors used are tones that would attract both men and women, and cater to both women’s and men’s needs.  This would explain why there is not an extreme percentage gap between gender demographics, for the sites communicate effectively to both genders.

Internet users might assume that DIY Network would be more popular because it is an HGTV network website, but due to internet data research conducted by Alexa.com. DIY Network is ranked 1,252^nd most popular website in America and has a global rank of 7,442, yet it’s over all reputation ranking is 6,946("Diynetwork.com Site Info",Alexa). Whereas doityourself.com’s us ranking is lower at 1,535^th place, but their global ranking is better at 5,765^th place and has a better reputation at 5,917(“Doityourself.com Site Info", Alexa). Also, more people found doityourself.com through Google than DIY Network, for doityourself.com has a 47.94 percent click ability; whereas DIY Network has 34.79 percent click ability from Google ("Diynetwork.com Site Info", "Doityourself.com Site Info" Alexa 2013).

Both sites can be found by searching key words such as DIY, do it yourself, diy projects, and how to. According to the data recorded by Alexa.com online users prefer doityourself.com. Both sites have clear focal point marketing towards people who want to learn how to do, do it yourself projects. DIY Network has more credibility and professionalism because it is  a sub site off of HGTV.com. It’s affiliation with HGTV automatically give the site credibility, for it is a well-known brand, television channel, and media outlet. Yet, doityourself.com is more amateur, for DIY Network brings professional designer made instructions and design ideas to consumers. Doityourself.com caters more to the amateur and shows off consumer ideas and end products. The plus side to that though is average Americans get the chance to showcase themselves and their ideas, all the while getting to talk to fellow DIY consumers.

The websites appeal to the focal point of the audiences because they strictly cater to the VALS makers, who are the DIY’s, However from a design standpoint, doityourself.com has better color design. The use of the color yellow invites and brightens up the site, showing off a cheery glow. DIY Network uses red which is a power color, and is not quite harsh, but seems less inviting than doityourself.com. It may not have as much credibility, but doityourself.com is more inviting and welcoming. Both sites, as mentioned before use colors that appeal to both genders, however More men visit DIY Network than doityoutself.com , and more women go on doityourself.com than DIY Network, which can reflect from color design. Psychologist Daniela Ninesta did a study on men and the effects of red, and the study showed, “The red effect extends only to males and only to perceptions of attractiveness” ("Psychological Study Reveals That Red Enhances Men's Attraction to Women : Rochester News", 2008).

From a navigational standpoint DIY Network is better, for it is easier to use, where doityourself.com is not. Consumer reviews on Alexa .com for doityourself.com are nothing but great, but a consumer did complain about navigation, saying “Lots of stuff here. However, poorly organized. Most of it is jumbled and navigation is difficult” (“Doityourself.com Site Info", Alexa). Both use drop down menus with sub categories, which makes for more refined searching, however doitourself.com’s are more general, where DIY Network’s are specific.

If someone had to pick a site that was better than the other, one would think they would choose DIY Network, even though the data shows it is less popular than the other site. However, it has credibility, great navigation, it is not horrible to look at, and it shows both professional and consumer end products. So, if someone who is not a VALS maker, but would like information on DIY, they are more apt to trust the known brand, than the amateur brand, even if more consumers prefer it over the other.

References

DIY Home Improvement Information | DoItYourself.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.doityourself.com/

DIY Network - Home Improvement How-To & Remodeling Projects. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.diynetwork.com/

Diynetwork.com Site Info. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/diynetwork.com

Doityourself.com Site Info. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/doityourself.com

Lowes.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics by Quantcast. (2013, February). Retrieved from http://www.quantcast.com/lowes.com#!demo

Madden Pew Internet & American Life Project, M. (2005, June 8). More than half of internet users seek do-it-yourself information online | Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/Doityourself-Information/Data-Memo.aspx

Psychological Study Reveals That Red Enhances Men's Attraction to Women : Rochester News. (2008, October 28). Retrieved from http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=3268

VALS™ | VALS™ Types | Makers | SBI. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes/makers.shtml