Newspapers, sit up and take notice – Memorial Post launched today and they have your obituary business squarely in its crosshairs. It’s a platform that’s international in scope and allows users to easily create online memorials that put the newspapers’ Legacy.com versions to shame.
Users choose their own layout, font and color scheme, upload pictures (via drag and drop), link to video and add options like funeral details, affiliations, social sharing and a guest book that remains open for as long as the user wants. As promised by its founder, Keith Stride, Memorial Post is obituaries 2.0.
Through an account dashboard users can update, edit or add to a post at any time during their 5-year term (costs are between $30 and $62 depending on number of pictures and words). This immediately gives them a leg up on newspapers’ “In Memoriam” business as people can now mark anniversaries and special dates by simply accessing their account and uploading their changes.
The smartphone and tablet versions of the site are equally as impressive. “We’ve focused on the viewing experience for mobile devices” says Keith Stride when I reached him this morning by telephone. “People tend to create an obituary from a desktop or laptop so we’ve made the smartphone and tablet version all about viewing, sharing and interacting with the guest book.”
Memorial Post is an exciting new entrant into this space and we’ll definitely be monitoring and reporting on their progress.
