What The %$#@ IS “Web 2.0″???
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:
- Make sure that you can keep your website up to date yourself, and that it’s easy and intuitive to use. It’s amazing how many business websites are old, stale, and out of date. If your home page and information pages are not up to date or easy to find, why should anyone bother to do business with you? They can visit your competitor’s up to date website in 30 seconds.
- Provide ways that your market can talk to you. Use polls, blogs, forums, rating systems, whatever works best for your market. Try different things. And talk to them! When you have a new product, ask people what they think of it, and then use their responses to make it better.
- Join the conversation on other related sites. Not everything you do has to be on your own site. Find other sites that serve your target market and engage in the conversations they are starting. Comment on their ideas and blogs. Work with bloggers and web masters in your niche to create buzz around each other’s projects and products.
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?
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