By Karen Feigenbaum
[***½ out of *****]
Fool.com's purpose is not exactly clear when you first arrive at
the site. There are links referencing IRAs and stocks, so one begins
to suspect they have something to do with personal investment. After
calming down from mentally overloading in reaction to the hyperlink-heavy
homepage, it's somewhat easy to find the link asking the question
that everyone who visits www.fool.com must be thinking: What's The
Motley Fool?
According to the web-site, The Motley Fool's name "derives from
Elizabethan drama, where only the court Jester (the "Fool")
could tell the King the truth without getting his head lopped off."
They continue by saying that they're "dedicated to educating,
amusing, and enriching individuals in search of the truth." This
site sounds great…but what the hell do they do? After the grand
and auspicious opening, the web-site finally goes on to explain that
they are dedicated to making the complexity of personal finances simple
for the layperson, boasting that "this stuff isn't rocket science."
Demystifying the financial investment world is certainly a tempting
offer. After all, investors often seem to be a fraternity comprised
of people (typically white males, just like a fraternity) who have
passed some kind of elite hazing ritual. Most of the world is still
left on the outside looking in with fear, scorn, or envy, but with
a definite sense of "otherness." Stocks and bonds and mutual
funds, oh my! It's all so confusing.
Browsing through some of the site's more interesting-sounding links,
it becomes obvious that The Motley Fool has taken a lesson from the
"----- for Dummies" series of literature. They speak to
the reader about complicated topic-matter in a manner that is neither
over the heads of the uninformed nor condescending in a patronizing
tone of voice. Sadly, the attempts at humor fall a touch short of
the desired mark and ring a bit hokey and unprofessional. But, the
site atones for such transgressions with useful, educational, and
interesting content, such as something they have dubbed "Fool's
School," which is a breakdown of investment basics must-know-how.
They also allow for an easy entrance into the world of actual investing,
including stock tip discussion groups, securities' historical data,
and links to brokers.
While the web-site's purpose is admirable and quite practical for
a large portion of the population, as a visitor, I'm left wondering
about the its visibility. The name is esoteric, and it required a
few moments worth of searching to determine The Motley Fool's actual
intent. In a content-saturated universe, this site can (and may very
well be) easily overlooked. But the concept around which it's built
is sound, the aim is noble, and it's conceivable that the business
plan is equally as solid (my guess is that they probably derive revenue
from their recommended brokers). Unfortunately, if the site produces
low click-through to these brokers, due to Fool's own potentially
low traffic volume, their revenue stream can and probably will easily
dry up.
My main suggestions would be to streamline the homepage such that
the site's objective is clearly stated up front and also not obscured
by an abundance of content hyperlinks.