Have You Seen The New Live.com?

In case you hadn’t noticed, the homepage at Live.com recently got a refresh. The new homepage now features a scenic background (see image at left for an example) which includes areas called “hotspots.” These hotspots are interactive, hyperlinked parts of the image that help you to explore searches that relate to the area of the image that they are linked to. The hotspots are obviously just a clever way to get people to come check out the page at live.com while also pointing them to the various types of search that Live Search can do (like image search, health searches, video search, etc). It’s kind of crazy, but it’s also kind of clever. Similar to Ask.com’s skins, the backgrounds at Live.com deliver “the pretty,” but its really the interactivity that’s drawing the curious visitors who come to check it out. Well, at least it’s different. Along with other unique programs, like the innovative Cashback offering where you can get paid to surf (linked from the live.com homepage), the new Live.com is just one more example of how the Live Search team is thinking up ways to engage new users.