Pillar #13 – The Evolving Web________________________________________________________________________
The evolving web means that the World Wide Web continues to rapidly
change – and therefore so must also your internet marketing strategy.
Three stages of web development
There will be at least three stages of web evolvement that you need to be aware of. So far there has only been two distinct stages – but the next stage is just around the corner.
The three stages of web development: (from an internet marketing perspective) Stage 1: Web 1.0 – 1996 to 2004
Stage 2: Web 2.0 – 2004 to ?
Stage 3: Web 3.0 - ? to ?
The web has evolved as a marketing medium since the mid 1990s. Back then the internet could be described more as one-way source of information. Web pages were viewed, read and/or printed out. The internet was a good resource for researching information. Any marketing that occurred was based on existing offline advertising techniques.
Pillar #13 – The Evolving Web reviews how marketing techniques have evolved since then, ensuring that you stay up-to-date with to most effective methods of marketing your business online. Why the web changed as a communications medium when Web 2.0 arrivedRemember that Web 1.0 was a one-way communication process, like a newspaper. However, when Web 2.0 arrived it represented the massintroduction of user-generated content. This is where blogging and social networking came in for the masses. People formed their own communities on niche topics and began interacting between themselves.
What will Web 3.0 look like and how will it impact internet marketing?Web 3.0 hasn’t happened yet – it might not happen for a while – it might not happen ever. But Web 3.0 is a good term to describe what might be. It’s a useful term to represent the fact the web constantly changes, and it evolving into something else.
My opinion is that the web is becoming more of a personalized experience. Social networks are offering more and more ways to make each user’s experience more unique. Personalized home pages are continually offering more personalization.
Perhaps another impact of web evolvement will have a greater impact than personalization on internet marketing in the future. The essential part of Pillar #13 – The Evolving Web is to keep your ear to the ground and be prepared to adapt your internet marketing model in the future.
How Web 2.0 marketing differs from Web 1.0 marketingWeb 2.0 marketing lets you do a lot more than speaking to your potential customers – it allows you to interact with your potential customers – at a place where they feel at home. Let’s use the golf course as an example…
What you need to be acutely aware of when it comes to interacting with your potential customers is that it’s like them inviting you out for a game of golf – they’ve invited you out because they like you and they know that you play the game too.
You limber up on the first tee, and just as your new acquaintance is about to hit his first drive, you pull a flip chart out of your golf bag and start a sales presentation. This may seem a bit crazy example but it articulates how a lot of businesses are still wrongly approaching Web 2.0 marketing.
Web 2.0 marketing is not about your advertising your web services. It’s about you developing relationships with people and offering value – free of charge with no catch. If people like you and what you represent then they’ll make the decision to find out more about you from reading your profile on whatever social network you’re participating on. That’s where you can sell your business.
Web 1.0 still exists – it hasn’t gone and isn’t likely to go awayAlthough Web 2.0 marketing is the ‘in thing’, Web 1.0 marketing still exists. It hasn’t gone and it isn’t likely to go away. Web 1.0 includes search engine listings, press releases, banner ads and many other internet marketing techniques.
I’d like to be clear that I’m not trying to persuade you to disregard the use of Web 1.0 internet marketing techniques. All I’m trying to get you to do is to be aware of when to market in a Web 2.0 style and when to market in a Web 1.0 style. As long as if you’re aware of where to use each marketing style, then you’re not going to look like an aggressive salesman on a golf course.
Some thoughts on Web 3.0 marketing opportunitiesI’ve already mentioned that I feel that the web is evolving to become a more personalized experience for each user. So how will this personalized web experience manifest itself?
There are two main areas that I’d like to discuss within this yet-to-be Web 3.0 – Virtual Reality Marketing and something I call MyPage Marketing.
As computer abilities improve, and internet bandwidth increases, so does the quality of software programs that produce a virtual reality experience.
The more effectively that these virtual reality programs simulate real life experiences, or provide thrills on a similar level to doing whatever it is in real life, the longer and more often that people will use these virtual reality programs.
Second Life – and example of a virtual reality websiteOnce of the most popular and well known online virtual reality programs is called Second Life (figure 13.1).
Although the Second Life has been live for several years, it’s never become as popular as the main social networking sites. It should therefore not be your primary focus in an internet marketing campaign. However, it’s worth being aware of, because some companies have already invested significantly in the Second Life project.
Figure 13.1 – Second Life
Second Life – an early example of Web 3.0?
In Second Life you can buy land, build your own house or build your own business. And here’s where it gets interesting – you can market your own Second Life business. Believe it or not there are many people who are making full-time incomes within Second Life by selling services. Presently, much of the income is being made by graphic designers and programmers who assist with the design of avatars and other images.
Once you join Second Life you can bid to buy virtual land. Once you own your own Second Life land you can build a business, employ people, the imagination’s the limit. A lot of real-life companies have actually bought land in Second Life to secure their virtual retail space.
The Second Life website has some frequently asked questions which will help you start your own ‘second life’. They provide examples of different businesses that are already successful in Second Life and you can use these examples to see how you could run your own Second Life business.
As mentioned, I would not recommend spending too much time marketing your business on Second Life at the moment, but if you can think of an angle that is a little bit different, something particularly relevant for you, then it may be worthwhile testing this as an online marketing medium.
However, if you do decide to give Second Life a go make sure that you carefully track time and money spent. And make sure that you set up a method of tracking the success of your marketing activities.
MyPage MarketingThe second example of what may be referred to as Web 3.0 marketing is what I call MyPage Marketing. By MyPage Marketing I mean focusing the initial part of your marketing activities on the personalized home pages or personal profile pages of social networking sites.
MyPage Marketing falls flat on its face unless implemented flawlessly. In order for MyPage Marketing to be successful you need to be offering your audience something fun or useful and free.
Google Gadgets – an example of MyPage Marketing in actionI would call Google Gadgets an example of MyPage Marketing in action. Google now offer their users the option to personalize their home page – they call this your iGoogle page (Figure 13.2). You can choose from thousands of different independently designed gadgets to use to personalize your iGoogle page. Simply select “Add stuff” at the top right hand side of the page to search for gadgets hat are of interest to you.
One of the most popular Google Gadgets is a simple to-do list. Figure 13.3 shows a selection of some useful Google gadgets that you can use to personalize your iGoogle page.
By clicking on the “Add it now” button, you can add the to-do list to your personalized iGoogle page (Figure 13.4). This gadget allows you to store your list of things to do electronically, making them accessible when you login to your home page on any computer.
You can find a Google gadget that will do just about anything for you. There are dictionary and thesaurus tools, weather forecast gadgets, share dealing gadgets, currency converters. Most things you can think of really.
Figure 13.2 - iGoogle
Personalize your iGoogle page by selecting “Add stuff”
But you can design your own Google Gadget – or have your own Google Gadget designed for you. That’s where the internet marketing opportunity is. Imagine if you could design a Google Gadget that was to useful or so fun that it was downloaded by hundreds of thousands of users. You may be able to build one of these bespoke software programs (that’s in effect what a Google Gadget is) to lead people down your internet marketing funnel. Your Google Gadget is a really useful free tool – but you can also offer a more complex paid-for version.
Figure 13.3 - iGoogle
The to-do list is the third option down on the “Add stuff” page on iGoogleCreating your own Google Gadget
When you’re logged into your iGoogle page, you also have the option to create your own gadget. Just click “Try it now” to get started. This “try it now” page shows you different options for how you can easily create your own personalized gadget.
However, this option probably isn’t what you’re looking for. What most businesses will need is the “For developers” section which will show you exactly how your developers can build gadgets. And it’s completely free of charge to submit your own gadget.
Figure 13.4 - iGoogle
The to-do list as seen on a personalized iGoogle homepage
Perhaps you can incorporate your website link at the bottom of your gadget with an unobtrusive and optional call to action? But remember, the important thing is for it to be useful for whoever chooses to install and see your gadget – otherwise your gadget will be an exercise in negative publicity. If you’re looking to market your services too overtly from within your gadget, you’re much more likely for it to be a failure.
One of your internet marketing objectives should be to build a more responsive, trusting list of prospective customers. And there’d hardly a better way of doing this than offering your prospects something valuable free-of-charge – with no catch. That’s what Google Gadgets allow you to do.
If you can persuade just a hundred people from your list to download your Google Gadget and have it on their own iGoogle page, then it will rise up the popularity ranking within the Google Gadgets search engine, allowing more people will become aware of it.
There are virtually no upside limits and costs for producing your own gadgets are minimal. The main constraint is your imagination – what new Google Gadget can you design that would be useful to users and related to your industry?
The Evolving Web isn’t the place to start – even if it’s fun!Web 2.0 is still a very much an evolving field. Web 3.0 barely exists – and even if it does, it’s barely a concept. There is no point in actively focusing on these evolving areas as an internet marketing medium initially; it would be a mistake not to focus most of your time of more conventional forms of internet marketing at the start of your campaign. Things like directories, link building and article marketing are proven internet marketing techniques that should be among your initial areas of focus.
Always test the success of your campaignHowever, if you do decide to test virtual reality marketing or MyPage Marketing please remember to put in place as many methods to test the success of the campaign as possible.
Track things like how many people have viewed your gadget description, downloaded your gadget and how many people have gone on to complete a paid purchase at your site as a result of choosing to download your free gadget.
There are many other metrics which you should be testing. And with the Evolving Web, like with nearly every other aspect of internet marketing, the more you test and measure, the more you will be able to optimize your campaign and achieve the best possible results for your business in the future.
Pillar #13 – The Evolving Web Summary• Web 1.0 is represented by a one-way communications process. Web 1.0 marketing opportunities are therefore more like traditional advertising opportunities, including things like submitting your website to directories, submitting online press releases and article marketing.
• Web 2.0 represents the interactive web and marketing therefore started to recognize the importance of interacting in a community and encouraging more interaction, joining social networking groups, forming your own groups and thinking about the seeding of a viral marketing campaign.
• Web 3.0 represents the future. It doesn’t necessarily exist yet, but I call it the personalized web. Marketing tools for Web 3.0 could include virtual reality marketing and something I call MyPageMarketing – providing useful interaction from within someone’s personalized home page or personal profile on a social networking site.
• The Evolving Web means you can never assume you know everything about Internet marketing. Internet marketing techniques can change quickly. If you feel that you’re up-to-date with things now, unless you continue to study more material (like the 26-Week Internet Marketing Plan –
www.26WeekPlan.com) you’ll very quickly find your knowledge to be out-ofdate.• Think laterally of how new opportunities in Web 3.0 could impact your business. You should test new methods of marketing and ensure you find ways to track your success when using those new forms of marketing. Never stand still.
• For links to the various websites mentioned in this pillar and up-to-date links that relate to the Evolving Web visit our ‘future of internet marketing’ resources: http://www.13pillars.com/resources/pillar13.
