Blog or web site? Web 2.0? What? What?
We bloggers blog endlessly about - well - blogging. And, some folks get pretty impatient with us “Yeah, yeah, Mary - it’s great, you love it. But I’m up to my eyeballs now. How can the palavering help my business?” and, “What the heck are you talking about with all this Web 2.0 stuff?”
Well, this week, I’m walking my talk - that the line between blogging and “web sites” is disappearing. And, that’s part of Web 2.0 - it’s all about functionality and interaction. All the software (regardless whether it’s noted as “blog” or “site” stuff) is simply a set of tools to help us better connect and communicate with each other and our markets. And, it’s up to us, the users, how well they work (just like any tool.) My renovated web site will soon morph from this blog - same software, different look and ongoing interaction as well as on-the-fly anytime, anywhere updates.
Roxanne Darling over at Bare Feet Studios describes Web 2.0 this way: “Web 2.0 is a whole new way of using the web. It’s much more participatory and it takes place in real time. It’s about networking in very personal terms and also very broad terms. You will spend more time and more money with a Web 2.0 site and it will give you exponentially greater return on investment, not to mention a good shot at fame if you want it.”
Web 1.0, on the other hand, is where you build a site (usually for as little as you can possibly spend) and then leave it alone. It’s a “tablestakes” marketing piece (basic credibility). You can’t expect high Google rankings or significant revenues from it (since it’s basically a static web site with limited, rapidly aging content and little to no interaction.) However, Web 1.0 is fine if you’re just starting out in the virtual market; it’s better to start small and learn - than blow a lot of time and money on glitzy bells and whistles you don’t understand.
And now - Rox and the Bare Feet gang are kicking me out of the blog so they can do some of the hard core techy work. Stay tuned!
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February 2nd, 2006 at 11:33 am
I like the new look, Mary. Roxanne and her Bare Feet peeps do good work!
February 7th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
Mary -
Bruce DeBoer here - formerly of Synthesis fame. I’ve returned to my native career as a commercial photographer so I thought I’d add my $.02 about Web 2.0.
It’s not hard to understand how increased broadband will allow even more marketing information to pass to the target. 2.0 is about bandwidth and speed. What else can companies do with that capability?
A photographer whose 100% digital produces at least a 75 MB file every time the shutter is clicked. When I’m on assignment it’s possible to end up with well over 1000 “clicks” at the end of the day: 75,000 mb or over 7 gb.
My shoot is in Paris and I want to send today’s proofs to my client before tomorrows shoot were I will produce another 7gb of info. Ordinarily, I down load it to a Hard Drive in my hotel and leave for the next shoot with an uneasy feeling that if I drop it on the trip home to the States I’m screwed (expletive deleted).
Web 2.0 will allow me to transfer it to my server back home for immediate editing by my client and his client after the shoot – maybe even at the moment of the shoot.
This is an example of one industry moving information to satisfy a client. So … now try to imagine what other industries can do with web 2.0.
I don’t know about you, but my brain starts to hurt. BTW – I’ve transformed my blog. It is now http://www.PermissionToSuck.com and focuses on Fearless Creativity. I figured you and many others had the Marketing arena well covered.