Although still in its infancy, the World Wide Web has become an essential, if not intricate, part of our daily lives. As it continues to develop and evolve, almost relentlessly, through innovation and new technologies, what impact can these changes have on e-commerce?
In the short term, it’s unlikely to have a noticeable effect, but for companies planning to be around for the long term, it could be a case of sink or swim. Setting a foothold on the embankment of this vast torrent of progress may be fine for now, but unless companies are prepared to dive in and go with the flow, they will quickly be overwhelmed by the sheer power of the undeniable web transformation now in evidence. .
The question is what kind of technologies should e-commerce adopt and apply in order to move in the same direction as the mainstream. According to some influential developers and marketers, the answer is undoubtedly Web 2.0 technologies.
The term Web 2.0 was first expressed by O’Reilly Media back in 2004, which would suggest the conception of a second generation of web applications and services. And while some techies would argue that the building blocks of Web 2.0 have been around since the creation of the World Wide Web, there are many who now recognize the demarcation.
To many people, the definition of a Web 2.0 application seems somewhat ambiguous, but to the successful Internet marketer it is very clear. Whether your website visitors can submit content (text, images, videos), submit links to content, make comments, participate in discussions, and vote in one way or another, all or any of which will ultimately affect the amount of traffic that the entry will generate, then it is Web 2.0.
Basically, adopting a Web 2.0 formula for any website will increase traffic and make your website rank higher in search engines. It is a win-win situation. Some examples of Web 2.0 applications that eCommerce website owners should seriously consider are
forums, polls, feedback forms (for testimonials, reviews, etc.), blogs and RSS. The main points to consider are “user participation” and “social networks”. These are the buzzwords associated with Web 2.0, which is available through easy-to-use browser-based applications.
The best examples of highly successful Web 2.0 websites, where almost all content is user generated are, “Myspace” – page rank 8, “Youtube” – page rank 8, “Wikipedia” – page rank 8 and “eBay” – rank page rank 9.
Major search engines like Google thrive on new content and openly encourage its production by rewarding the websites that generate it. It’s pretty clear that Web 2.0 applications cannot be ignored by any serious online business. And the question of whether Web 2.0 is considered revolutionary or evolutionary doesn’t really matter. What matters, to the world of e-commerce, is adapt or die.