Integrating Web 2.0 Into Your Website

Everyone who is serious about making money on the internet these days has to stay ahead with the Web 2.0 game. People expect it – or t least they expect you to make effort with some of it. Don’t think that you have to throw away your old, perfectly good website and start again, though. That is not the case. You can perfectly feasibly incorporate Web 2.0 features into your existing website. It doesn’t have to be difficult and it doesn’t even have to cost you anything.

The main thing to bear in mind when updating your website with Web 2.0 features is what would your clients want? Your clients and potential clients are what matter because if you aren’t meeting their needs you won’t have a successful business and you won’t make a profit. Keep your website simple and only incorporate the Web 2.0 features which you think your target group will appreciate.

However, here are some of the things you could quite easily do with an existing website to update it for Web 2.0.

First of all, you can build a social community with your website. People like to feel they belong. Making them feel they belong to some exclusive club which is somehow connected to your products and services will make them feel good and encourage them to spend more money on you. You can easily build a social community at your website by including discussion forums where you invite comments about relevant topics.

Linked to that, you could provide content which can be edited and commented upon by the users. Let them upload their own videos, articles etc. You can still build in ways to approve or deny this content before it is posted, if you want to.

A word of warning here, once you use web 2.0 to let users in the sphere of your website, expect them to use this opportunity in ways you may not intend. That’s just life. Embrace it as it may open up further possibilities you hadn’t thought of. However, be aware that you also may have to exercise some editorial control over what is portrayed on your website, for the good of your business reputation.

The focus of any good Web 2.0 website should be on giving people what they want. Give people access to content quickly and easily, without having to wait a long time for a ton of content to load. Make your website content informative, nit just useless words. Educate your website visitors so they take away something useful that they will talk about with other people.

You can provide the most authoritative and up to date information by linking in to RSS feeds and news groups. Let your users also upload their own content and build your website. Let them build your business’ reputation by encouraging them to chat about it in other forums and provide links etc. They can generate you a lot of traffic this way if they talk positively about your website and your business. A client’s good word carries a lot more weight than you blowing your own trumpet, any day.