Competitive Analysis: What Else Is Out There?

Previously on this blog we discussed the importance of considering our competitors. Continuing in that vein, I took a look at some of the other Bible sites out there to get a better understanding of what is unique about the Tagged Tanakh.

World ORT is run by an international NGO promoting Jewish education, concentrating primarily on providing resources for institutions rather than on targeting individual users. The idea behind it is strong and the content is there, but the site itself is buggy and poorly designed.

Mechon Mamre sports an unappealing interface and lacks a presence outside the web, which diminishes its reliability. Nevertheless, it has a devoted following due to it’s simple design. It offers free downloads of various biblical texts in Hebrew and English…including the public domain 1917 JPS English translation based on the King James Bible.

Torah-La-Am is organized like a library, but users must pay for each article they wish to read. The content is fairly good, but isn’t backed up by any of the traditional scholarly credentials.

Biblos is an encyclopedic resource aggregating content from multiple religions, but doesn’t create any new information or commentary. Yet another top-down example of presenting the Bible as opposed to facilitating conversations around the Bible.

Project Genesis is a division of the Jewish Outreach Program consisting of several semi-connected sites:

Torah.org is a comprehensive and educational resource of online Torah classes
TorahMedia.com consists of thousands of recordings of Torah audio, free downloads, and a premium lending library
eKiruv.com provides online management tools and other resources for Jewish outreach organizations.
JewishAnswers.org is an archive of “Ask the Rabbi” questions and answers
Cross-Currents.com is commentary from an array of Jewish writers
LZechernishmas.com is a service that makes it easy to create and join efforts to complete the full six orders of the Mishnah text in memory of a loved one.

The lack of a clear connection between Project Genesis’s various sites makes it difficult for a user to access all that the project has to offer.

The biggest function differentiating the Tagged Tanakh from these sites is user interaction. None of them allow users to communicate with one another or to comment on others’ comments, which is a key component of the Tagged Tanakh. Many of these sites are focused on outreach, rather than Torah for Torah’s sake and the sake of connecting Torah to things beyond traditional Judaism.

More information on the Tagged Tanakh’s competitors coming soon!