The World Wide Web has revolutionized the economy and impacted the majority of the world’s population in the last ten to fifteen years. Today, the Web is not just a resource for a growing percentage of the population, it is the way we do business. Internet tools and usages are evolving from static HTML web pages to interactive user-driven web experiences.
From the birth of the web in 1989 through the late 1990s, companies had only basic HTML websites to convey information to consumers, with few opportunities for user-generated or rich content to flag the most popular and useful sites on the web. the present. Websites were nothing more than online brochures and business cards. Through the evolution of web development and the expansion of the Internet’s popularity, websites have become interactive social outlets that provide not only rich content (such as video or interactive interfaces), but also user-generated content. , where website users actually create communities and provide content that could never be built by a single organization. Today, interactivity is driving the market and helping to shape the next generation of the Web.
A term being heard more and more, Web 2.0 is being used to describe the next generation. In 2004, Tim O’Reily coined the term Web 2.0 as the business revolution of the computer industry, and it has become a catch-all term used to incorporate interactive user interfaces, rich content, online social networking, and user-generated content. . Although it looks like a major overhaul for the Web is coming, there is no particular process for transforming it. In fact, Web 2.0 is not an object that can be created. It’s actually a perception of the direction the Web is heading. Web 2.0 is a new perspective where interaction is key, collaboration is mandatory, and developers are hard at work turning mediocre websites into social arenas. The Web is becoming a resource where Internet users and professionals can combine knowledge and experience to add value to companies and any other Internet user.
The following seven statistics reinforce that marketers should plan to implement interactive website tools in the future:
1. 77% of the US population is online (Harris Interactive) This basic statistic is where it all begins: almost everyone an organization could be interested in reaching is using the Web…and usually extensively. There is no longer the “my customers don’t use the web” excuse for not having a good website.
2. 30% of the online population reads blogs, around 50 million (ClickZ.com) This new trend involves two of the phrases we used earlier to describe Web 2.0: social networking and user-generated content. Imagine a newspaper where you can engage in a discussion with other readers about any interesting article – that’s blogging, and it will continue to grow rapidly. As with most of the technologies discussed here, the good news is that blogging technology is easy, although it still requires smart and dedicated people to generate the initial content.
3. 45% of active web users are members of a social networking site (Nielsen-NetRatings) Social networking websites focus on creating communities of people who share interests using the website as a vehicle for communication. A long list of such sites has appeared recently, many of which have large numbers of members. People love to interact with others, and the popularity of the Web has a lot to do with it. Business owners can use this trend in several creative and inexpensive ways to market their own products.
4. 38.4 million people visited MySpace.com in 2006, an increase of 367% over the previous year (Nielsen-NetRatings) This site has had the largest growth in unique users between 2006 and 2007. MySpace.com, Originally focused on young adults, it has quickly become a gateway for business networking. Ideas spilling over from mainstream social networking sites have helped spawn a host of new sites focused solely on business networking, such as LinkedIn, Ryze, and Tribe.net.
5. 54% of US Internet users watched online video in 2006 (AP-AOL Video) Fifty percent of the US population is expected to view online video advertising for the next year, which means that 155.2 million people will be exposed to online advertising by 2008. Businesses project $775 million in growth in online advertising spending. The trend is expected to skyrocket continuously to a staggering $4.3 billion by 2011 (B2B Marketing). Again, the technology behind it is easy and inexpensive to implement, so there’s no reason a web marketer with good, relevant video content shouldn’t share it with the world.
6. 17 Million US Internet Users Downloaded Podcasts in 2006 (Pew Internet) Although this technology was originally derived from Apple’s IPOD MP3 player, you don’t need to own one to listen to or create a Podcast. In fact, producing podcasts integrated with RSS keeps listeners up to date with the latest audio releases, from radio spots to online conferences. For marketers, the technology is inexpensive and easy to manage, making it easy to turn ideas into podcasts.
7. 63% of consumer products vendors, 65% of media and communications vendors, 37% of retail vendors, 37% of financial services vendors, and 38% of equipment vendors and technology currently use or plan to use RSS in the next 12 months. (Rok Hrastnik) RSS has the highest value among Web 2.0 technologies, primarily because it integrates with most other interactive tools and is virtually maintenance free. Not only is it a great way to get publicity for news articles, press releases, events, but it also keeps internet users up to date with podcasts, blogs and online videos. Making an RSS-friendly item or event listing is quick and requires little or no ongoing maintenance, making it a procedure that 100% of marketers should be exploring
These tools are quickly becoming the mainstays of online marketing plans. Interactive user interfaces, rich content, online social networking, and user-generated content will be essential tools for online marketing growth in the near future.