AOL Partners with Oodle
AOL’s partnership with Oodle will ‘officially’ be announced today, as the company launches its new AOL Classifieds venture.
AOL Classifieds is slated to cover the US and parts of Canada, but if marketed properly through their other channels, AIM for example, this geography could expand relatively quickly. AOL is within the list of top sites visited by Canadians and Oodle within the top 10 classified sites visited by Canadians.
So, what’s the driver behind all of this? AOL’s Chris Spanos, General Manager of AOL Local and Specialty Verticals, summarizes by saying, “With the current economic climate, providing consumers with an easy way to buy and sell merchandise and services, or make local connections through classifieds is becoming even more important”.
Overall, the AOL Classified site is not bad looking. It’s very Oodle picturesque’, but AOL did the right thing to partner with someone who has global recognition and to avoid building it themselves. Classifieds and serving up Classified content is not one of their core competencies. However, what I especially like on the site is the quick communal links in the top nav. Now from a design perspective some could argue the links get lost in the page, but I still commend them for ensuring easy access to things such as local events, my mail, city guides, etc….
