WebProNews

Yahoo Shine launched as the company reaches for attention from women amid a competitive web environment for the 25-54 female market.

Tom Cruise waving hello greeted the earliest visitors to Yahoo Shine after its debut. The site aims at attracting interest from women in an age bracket where it is likely they have substantial say over the spending in their households.

One can spend time as well as money, and Yahoo wanted to let people know Shine isn't all about the Benjamins. Their announcement on Yahoo's corporate blog touted a desire for Shine not to be seen as aiming for one particular demographic. Still, the appeal to 25-54 agers looks evident.

Yahoo assembled a solid list of contributors from the world of women's publishing to contribute to Shine's categories, including Fashion & Beauty, Entertainment, and Love & Sex. They also invite the site's visitors to blog as well, with the promise of entries possibly making the Shine front page.

The big push from Yahoo in the promotions arena hasn't begun yet, as the Yahoo home page lacked a link to Shine as of press time. A need for the site to stand out could benefit from advice given by John Battelle, who commented about the Yahoo brand in general recently:

If Yahoo's going to spend marketing dollars to gain share, it has to do it in a major, integrated way. Why not partner with major national brand advertisers, partially underwriting their TV advertising with an final few frames that say "Search for {insert brand here} on Yahoo for special offers" or somesuch? Once the effort proves itself out in conversions, this marketing program could well become a major money maker for Yahoo.

Though his point of view concerned making the link between a call to action on TV and the landing page on Yahoo more connected, the promotional aspects could benefit Shine. Yahoo should look at its ad clients, see who may be advertising on shows with a strong female audience (hi Oprah!) and work out some way to get the Yahoo Shine brand in front of a large viewership quickly.