Web 2.0 and Its Impact on Future of Internet Copy

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Barack Obama’s Website is Web 2.0 at its Best

By Carmin Wharton

Regardless of your political affiliation or belief, model your website after Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s website and I bet you’ll see a significant increase in visitors to your website which cannot help but lead to an increase in clients and sales. Before I share why information to support my claim, let’s examine Web 2.0.

What is Web 2.0?

Unless you have been living in a cave for the last year, you have heard of Web 2.0. For those cave dwellers, simply put, Web 2.0 is communication and interactivity between people on the Internet.

How Barack Obama Is Using Web 2.0

Obama’s website and his campaign is Web 2.0 personified. Here’s why:

• Once you skip the contribution page, the first thing you see is an invitation to send his Vice President pick, Joe Biden, a welcome note!
• Then there was the text message sent to millions of people at 3:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time announcing his Vice-President pick.
• The website is rich with video on just about every page.
• There is a “Barack TV” section with channels including “Issues,” “Your Story,” “Barack’s Story,” “Michelle’s Story.”
• The site is designed to interact with those who are deaf and visitors who speak Spanish.
• My favorite: The invitation to send a campaign contribution for as little as $5.00 and be entered into a contest to be 1 of 10 people picked to attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver, at the campaign’s expense!
• Barack has a blog that is updated on a regular basis.

Other Web 2.0 Components on Barack Obama’s Website:

• There is a section where Hillary Clinton supporters are asked to join and are welcomed to Obama’s campaign! When you click through to the page, a warm notice is posted about Hillary’s accomplishments. Visitors are asked to sign up and “share your story.” An attractive picture of Hillary Clinton is strategically placed on the page with a video stream of Obama speaking, placed in a noticeable but unobtrusive place on the page.
• There is a section where visitors are asked to help fight the smear campaigns that serve to divide people and cast suspicion about who Barack Obama is. To dispel untruths, Barack has even posted a copy of his birth certificate along with pictures of the American flag on his plane and him visiting and interacting with American troops.

Barack Obama’s web design integrates every single Web 2.0 component into the website:

Social Networking: The ability to create your very own “my BarackObama” mini-website.

Blogging: Barack Obama has a blog on his website and visitors and supporters can create a blog too.

User-generated content: visitors have the ability to express themselves in many ways. In addition to the ability to congratulatory message for the newly selected Vice Presidential candidate, you can share your own Barack story by uploading a video, etc.

Video: There are videos running concurrently all over this website.

Widgets & Gadgets: These include a resource library, the ability to get involved in a phone bank, the ability to get “action center updates,” etc.

Yes, this indeed is one cutting edge, fully Web 2.0 integrated website. My to-do list for today has just changed. I am going to integrate as many Web 2.0 components into my own website. I strongly urge you to do the same!

Do you want to use this article? Please feel free to use this article in your newsletter, e-zine or blog. However, the article must remain intact in its entirety and the byline below must be included in its entirety.

Carmin Wharton is Internet marketing expert and the Founder & CEO of http://www.e-BlackWomenNetwork.com, the premier membership networking community for business women of color.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carmin_Wharton

Grand Unified Diagram of Web 2.0 Technologies

Web 2.0 is all about affecting people’s lifes by improving interaction. It allows for, among many things, improved collaboration and communications. Since there are millions of so-called Web 2.0 technologies, and adding in corporate jargons, it is no wonder that most of us are at a lost. How can such a useful and powerful mix of technologies that is supposed to make my life better be so difficult to understand and grasp?

Well, I, for one, struggled for a long time trying to comprehend what Web 2.0 technologies are. After many moons, I finally arrived at this grand unified diagram of Web 2.0 technologies. I hope you will find this useful:

Web 2.0 Business Value Proposition

Web 2.0, or more correctly the future of the web, is all about integration of everyday activities with the web. The appeal of Web 2.0 is not longer about the technology. Rather, it is about the availability, and ease of use of these technologies, to enhance our lives – both for work, and for play.

Companies who are involved with web technologies aim at businesses should quickly re-focus their unique selling proposition into one along the lines of the following:

Our business is to make your work easier, more productive and fun. [And please be as specific as possible about which part of the work you are talking about; and how that part of the work pieces into the bigger picture of the business the client is in]

Companies targeting the consumer space should also have a similar value statement; one that goes like this:

Our business is to make your life easier, more enjoyable and fun. [And please be as specific as possible about which part of his life you are talking about; and how that part of life pieces into the bigger picture of him being a human being existing in this world]

Ideas That Spread Will Win

The Internet is a powerful tool for the spreading of ideas. And, as Seth Godin keeps saying, “Ideas that spread will win.”

There is no going back. Advertising agencies has to be skilled enough to use the web as a tool to spread their clients ideas – in the most creative manner such that the campaign is efficient and effective. Those that fail to do so will go out of business. And in fact, they will go out of business very quickly because – again thanks to the Internet – results can be measured almost instantaneously; in real time. Anyways, this is Seth’s talk on the topic of “Ideas that spread.”

SEO Explained

According to Wikipedia:

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (”organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.

Search engine optimisation is not the be all, or the end all, for any website. It is also not a one-time exercise. Allow me to point out the basic components of a search engine optimisation project. They should be:

• Keyword research and current website content and structure audit
• Keyword strategy development and execution
• Website content and structure strategy development and execution
• Search engine performance indicator setting and measurement
• Ongoing strategy refinement and execution based on the above measurement and alinement with search engine optimisation targets

More on each of the above components in a search engine optimisation project later.

Web Business Trend

I believe that the next stage of the development of the Web will focus on user interface design. Basically, the focus will shift towards balancing usability, intuition, and astetics.

Whereas until recently, work on the Web has been dominated by technical folks, the next stage will involve graphic designers and usability consultants – the folks who are experts on the softer side of things. The Web will not only need to work, it needs to look good as well and be highly usable to the man-on-the-street for Web 2.0 to succeed.