WEB 2.0

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WEB 2.0 Other Popular Technologies You Must Know About

Are you using these popular technologies?

Today you will become acquainted with other popular technologies that you must know about for you business.

What is Tagging?

A commonly used term with Web 2.0 is tagging. Tagging is a way users can classify or organize and categorize data, and is common on many sites including social bookmarking.  How it works is users attach tags to data items like web pages, their blog entries or even photographs they want classified and categorized.  When you tag a blog page, you may tag it with terms like, “internet marketing” or “small business marketing”.

Web 2.0 is a client-sided application, meaning end-users, people sitting at their computer, can categorize, tag and store data on the Web and share it with others. For example, let’s say you bookmark 3 of your favorite sites. Usually, when you visit another computer, your bookmarks will not show up when you log in. When you use Web 2.0 technologies however, you bookmark your favorite sites to public forums, so you can access them from anywhere. At the same time, anyone else can access your favorites from any computer anywhere in the world.  This is a powerful and intelligent way of sharing data. Really Simple Syndication

What is RSS?

This is another WEB 2.0 technology that rapidly gained popularity. RSS technology, or “Really Simple Syndication” is a tool anyone can use to tell the world at large about new blog entries or web entries. What you do, is set up your site content using RSS tools or content aggregators. What happens is any time you post new information to your page, that information is fed to people that are linked to your feed. For instance, you can subscribe to Virtual Project Consulting RSS feed and choose to read it through Google Reader so that you can follow all your favorite blogs in one place.

Other Applications

Many applications allow readers to interact with the Web pages they browse. These applications are all part of Web 2.0 technology, and include SOAP, XML, and AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript) which allows websites to communicate with the browser behind the scenes and without human interaction. These technologies allow you to interact with a web page that is live in much the same way you would interact with a page from your own computer, a page you created.

In conclusion, even though WEB 2.0 is not new anymore, people are finding new and innovative ways to use it.  Strategically, you can use Web 2.0 to market your products and services and promote your business or site to millions of people around the world. Everywhere, people are taking an active interest in becoming members of a global community. You need to do this in a politically correct and decent way.

Thus, Web 2.0 has become a lot more popular than it had been in the past. Sites including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr and YouTube are all growing at a rapid pace and are being used by collaborative types interested in linking and information sharing on the Web.

And if you’re convinced by now that you should become part of this exciting WEB 2.0 world full of opportunities, please have a look at Virtual Project Consulting’s Social Media Starter Kit. It will help you become active on the top 4 social media tools in a way that will grow your business exponentially.

Please share with us some of your favorite WEB 2.0 technologies that you use that makes a difference in your business?!? LEAVE A COMMENT

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WEB 2.0 – How to utilize Blogs for Business

WEB 2.0 and Blogs

Most Web 2.0 platforms will ask you to contribute to the content contained on the site. By having a business blog, you can encourage visitors to add their insights to a page, through ongoing commentary to blog posts. It is possible to interact with these visitors by replying to each comment made on your site. By allowing visitors to post feedback or comments to your blog entries, the blog can serve as a mini community or forum. This is also a way to find out how visitors (prospects) think and what they want.

Popular blogs receive thousands of visitors every month. There are search engines whose sole purpose involves tracking blogs and related sites, including Technorati.com for example.

Most bloggers now include photos and other graphic elements in their web pages, along with text. You can even use MP3 or videos to enhance the quality of content provided in your blog. Online entrepreneurs and marketers are using blogs in many ways, to announce their passions, beliefs, purpose or to pitch their products and services while providing visitors with valuable content and information.

One of the reasons blogs are popular for marketing is they allow users to provide content that is updated frequently. You can post daily, weekly or monthly. The more frequently you post information to your blog, the more likely you are to maintain your page ranking and attract visitors to your blog.  The most successful business blogs have 300 times more content than the average blog.

Blog Strategies

How to utilise blogs for businessFrom Denise Wakeman, ‘The Blog Squad’, you can learn many blog strategies. According to Denise, the key to a successful business blog is frequency (at least 2-3 times per week) and quality. Let me share her 4 E’s strategy with you:

  1. Educate: Write “How to” posts, explain concepts, Questions and Answers etc
  2. Entertain: Tell stories, use video etc
  3. Engage: Do polls, ask for comments and feedback etc
  4. Enrich: Make yourself/your business stand out, differentiate yourself.

In conclusion the WEB 2.0 sites are user-friendly sites that promote socialization, collaboration and community building. These sites are also frequently used as a platform for small businesses and entrepreneurs to introduce their products and services to the public without blatantly advertising them. It gives individuals, like entrepreneurs, the opportunity to communicate with a global community.

Please feel free to comment and let us know how you use blogging for your business!  Also, if you need help with creating a WEB 2.0 social networking strategy for your business, have a look at the social media strategy template that Virtual Project Consulting is giving away for free!

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WEB 2.0 – Three Things You Must Know

What is Web 2.0 and why you need it? WEB 2.0 for Newbies

Have you noticed how the terms collaboration and communication crops up everywhere? They are the buzz words that are part of Web 2.0.  The purpose of this article is for you to become crystal clear on what Web 2.0 is, the key features of Web 2.0 and what the implication of Web 2.0 is for your business.

1. Definition of Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is a broad term describing many different kinds of websites, websites that provide a platform where end-users have control over the content of sites. Web 2.0 includes social networking sites, wikis, Blogs, RSS Feeds and other sites that emphasize collaboration and sharing among users. Some well-known examples of free Web 2.0 tools are:

  • Facebook and MySpace (social networking)
  • Twitter (micro blogging)
  • Squidoo (community website to create pages, called lenses, for subjects of interest)
  • LinkedIn (professional networking)
  • Craiglist (listing site for classified ads and forums)
  • Skype  (PC to PC calls)
  • del.icio.us (social bookmarking)
  • Technorati (blogging)
  • Flickr  (photo sharing)

2. Web 2.0 Key Features

Most sites, regardless of their platform, share key features if they are WEB 2.0 sites. Here are some of the key features and benefits associated with this new wave in technology:

  1. Web 2.0 encourages greater collaboration among webmasters and visitors, so that interactive communities are created on the Web.
  2. Web 2.0 approaches the Web as a platform for building conversation and communities.
  3. The “new” Web focuses more on social networking and sharing, through various means including through blogs, wikis and more.
  4. The philosophy behind Web 2.0 is one that promotes an “architecture of participation” where all visitors and users have the opportunity to contribute to a site’s development and progress.

The Web no longer serves as an entity in itself, but rather as a platform individuals can use to connect with others. WEB 2.0 is about people connecting with other people.

3. Business Implication of Web 2.0

Companies can now also share information and collaborate with one another in new and interesting ways. This will require business managers to start thinking more horizontally, moving away from a hierarchical model of communicating to one where knowledge is shared freely among employees, suppliers, vendors and even competitors.

Some companies are even encouraging their customers to take advantage of social networks to help them advertise. A company can also help businesses make working more practical and simpler. Rather than have individuals use stand-alone systems only, company’s can now encourage the joint use of software and computers among multiple users. Data can easily be shared from one person to next, meetings can be held online, and problem solving can take place from a much broader perspective.

Business entrepreneurs need to realize that this technology has existed for some time, but offers an interactive approach to marketing and everyday business operations. If companies haven’t done so already, they should examine how they can integrate Web 2.0 into daily operations while still hedging risks. If you decide to use social networking for marketing your business online, you should create a social networking strategy that integrates with your existing marketing efforts.

And to assist you with the creation of your own social networking strategy, I have developed a social media strategy template. It is easy to use and filled with recommended tactics for different social media platforms. It will also let you put measurement and maintenance in place in order to realize value over the longer term.

For more social media tips and articles, please subscribe to my blog, to the right…