Underground Web Designs Blog

The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet. –William Gibson

As someone who makes the online world his business, I can tell you that that quote is just as true now as it was when science fiction writer William Gibson uttered it many years ago. The internet is evolving every day, and the future is indeed friendly.

What is that future? The web of the future is all about openness and a single, unified user experience. In many ways the science fiction writers have had it right all along. As an increasing number of our everyday devices gain internal computers, the lines between the internet and the desktop, and indeed even the online world and the offline world, are beginning to blur.

The web is rapidly moving from something we use, to something we’re part of. Blackberys, iPhones, and PDA’s allow us to bring our internet connection with us as never before. Cell phones keep us connected to co-workers while at home, at work, and on the road. And the internet allows us to buy our cloths, plan our vacations, and communicate with others from wherever we are, whenever we feel like it. Lately, such products as Adobe AIR and Yahoo Searchmonkey promise to bring the web even closer to us, by putting it on the desktops of our computers and making it easier than ever to find the information we seek. Likewise, projects like OpenID, OAuth and others are working tirelessly to help us manage our increasingly digital identities.

As the web moves closer and closer to the dreams of science fiction writers the world over, how will your business adapt? Is your website ready? The evolving internet is all about continual interaction. There are no longer any lines between locations or between devices. The internet IS. Is your business ready to take advantage of this tremendous opportunity? Success on the new internet will go to those who are avaialble whenever and wherever their customers may look for them. It will go to those who can offer a complete and total experience that transcends the online world and encompases digital information, interaction, and physical products.

Apple is already doing this. Their computers, iPods, and now the iPhone all continue the unique, easy to use experience that the Apple website, software, and Apple Stores provide.

The next generation is growing up constantly connected to the internet. What are you doing to unify your products, services, and brand into one simple to use yet powerful experience that will make an impression on them?

As great as the internet is, there’s nothing quite like meeting other people who share your passion face to face. That’s why I’m extremely excited about the opportunity to attend the WebVisions Conference in Portland Oregon later this week (Thursday and Friday).

Even though I’ve learned a lot about the internet and how it works on my own from reading, research, etc. nothing is quite the same as having the chance to talk to people who know the business better than you do. The chance to ask questions, participate in live discussions, and hear the passion in someone’s voice is priceless.

That’s a good thing to keep in mind as we build websites too. Even though a site IS an online entity, not an in person meeting, people will be more willing to trust you if you can provide an “in person” feel to your site. Isn’t that why sites like Facebook and Myspace do so well?

Of course, not everybody can start their own social network — nor should they. However, if you stop talking AT your audience, and start sharing something your passionate about with them, it shows. Enthusiasm is infections, and if you can communicate to your audience that you care about them personally, and that you truly believe what you have to offer is the best thing for them, they’ll listen.

After all, why else would I fly across North America to learn stuff I could probably get from the net if I looked hard enough? It’s not about the information, it’s about how it’s presented.

PS: Keep an eye out for posts live from Portland and the WebVisions conference over the next few days. And if anyone who’s attending happens to read this, shoot me a comment, I’d love to meet up with you there!

If you have a small business and don’t have a squidoo lens, you’re missing out on website traffic and recognition. What the heck is squidoo? I’ll let them explain that. 

The important thing to realize is that squidoo is an easy way to interact with your audiance in a very “Web 2.0″ way. Squidoo lets you publish information on your area of expertise and include pictures, links, RSS feeds from relevant blogs (possibly your own?), polls, etc. You can let your guests rank different links for usefulness, and include a guest-book to get their feedback. 

It’s fun, and it really is incredibly easy. What have you got to loose? Take an hour or so and build your first lens. Then share it with everybody. It definitely won’t HURT your business.

And while you’re at it, check out mine: http://www.squidoo.com/modxforsmallbusiness

Today Yahoo! announced that their developer platform “SearchMonkey” is open to developers. SearchMonkey allows developers to write applications that will provide users with custom search results based on RDF data.

Put simply, RDF is a way of communicating data about your website or business in a way that computers understand. This can be anything from who maintains your website and when it was last updated to your store address and hours, to movie reviews. This is your chance to provide searchers with extra data about your site.

It’s true that Yahoo isn’t Google, and that only people searching Yahoo! using these customized applications will be able to see your data, BUT this is still a tremendous opportunity. Yahoo may be the first big player to start paying attention to RDF data in a big way, but it is far from the last. Google is exploring RDF data too through it’s Google Base program.

If you want to jump ahead in the next generation of search results, this is your chance. Usually search engines don’t put the content of the search results in the hands of developers, but now they have. If you don’t take advantage of it, be sure your competitors will!

If you want to make use of RDF data to describe your business but don’t know where to start, please contact us about creating an RDF profile or application for your site that is compatible with the new Yahoo! SearchMonkey. 

In the old days of the web, every web page was pretty much the same. Flash animations, scripting, and even graphics were few and far between because of bandwidth and technology limits. Now, all that’s changed. Internet speeds just keep getting faster, and graphics, flash, and internet applications are becoming more and more widespread.

In fact, so much has changed that a simple HTML website just isn’t competitive anymore. People expect a site that’s updated regularly and often, that has maps, a search bar, and cool interactive menu.

If you’re selling something, they expect to be able to check out quickly and easily, with the site doing everything possible to make it easier for them. Users expect user reviews, ratings, and “people who bought this product also bought” listings for each product.

If you write a blog or an information site, people expect to be able to comment or leave some sort of feedback on the information you provide.

The days when a simple HTML web page was enough are gone. Is your website still in the dark ages?

There isn’t one. Now get back to work!

It’s the latest big buzz in the internet marketing world: Web 2.0. But for all it’s popularity, nobody seems to know just what it is. Ask any 10 people in a room what “Web 2.0″ is, and you’ll get 10 different answers (unless 2 or 3 people say “what’s that?”).

From all my research as an website designer, the closest thing to a definition for web 2.0 that I’ve found goes something like this:

Web 2.0 describes a change of thinking about how the web works. No longer is the web about information — it is about networking and connections. Webmasters are no longer the only ones who write web content- everybody does.

With this in mind, how can “Web 2.0″ impact your business?

What do YouTube, Facebook, and eBay have in common that you don’t have?

• They all have communication and user feedback.
• Much of their website content is generated by users in the first place, not a webmaster.
• They provide their users with more than information, they provide them with an online community.

You see, the next generation of websites is not about telling your market to buy this or go here. That’s for TV advertising. People don’t like being yelled at, especially online. Instead, use the power of the internet to connect with your market. Talk to them, discover what they want, and then provide it. Because communication is what web 2.0 is really about. It’s not about slick designs or logos, it’s not about the latest and best technologies (though it does use them), web 2.0 is about making the internet a conversation.

How can your business enter the global conversation that is the internet? Here are some tips to get you started:

The internet used to be like a big old library encyclopedia. You could find just about any information you wanted in it, but you had little opportunity to make your own opinions heard. Now that is changing. The next generation of internet users  expects to be able to make their points heard. They expect the internet to be an interactive, engaging experience.

Is your business keeping up?