|
Web 2 Point What? Web 2.0, as defined by Wikipedia, “… is a trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to facilitate creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users. These concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies.” America Online (AOL) provided my first experience with the World Wide Web. In fact, I actually thought AOL was the Internet back then. Yet, I believe it was in that moment that Web 2.0 applications actually began to take form, patterning themselves after the America Online experience – something interactive – a place where people could convene, get to know each other and form valuable relationships. But as the old adage goes, “You’ve come a long way, Baby!” Now, when we turn on our computers, we have the entire world and beyond at our fingertips. We can visit faraway galaxies with the click of a button. We can watch the last episode of Big Brother and we can form alliances with people who we would never otherwise encounter. That’s the jist of Web 2.0. And this article is going to highlight some of the ways you can capitalize on this new trend to help grow or start your online business enterprise. Recently, I read a study, which suggested that social networking (Web 2.0) sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube get more hits per day than the almighty Google! Think about that for a moment. We’ve all been programmed with the belief that, ultimately, the search engines (SE) are the ones to please with regard to Website ranking and popularity. But now we’re being told that these relatively new Web 2.0 sites are getting more visits per day than one of the biggest search engines in the world! So I tried this concept of putting my business’ information on many popular social networking and bookmarking sites. And let me tell you that my company DID receive nearly instant search engine rankings through some of the Web 2.0 sites I’m about to highlight - something that would have taken a long time to accomplish using traditional methods of SEO and list building. What was especially great was that there was no sandbox. There was no reciprocal linking necessary; there was no list to build. It was simply a matter of signing up, posting a few links, completing my profile, and voila - instant search engine rankings! Now, if a person were to couple that with a consistent program of beefing up the information s/he shared online in these Web 2.0 platforms, imagine the possibilities. Imagine the influx of business you’d receive. Imagine the notoriety. Imagine becoming slightly famous. Imagine endless possibilities. The whole point is to make people aware of you and your business and then get them talking about you, tagging you, bookmarking you, and sharing your information within their networks. Oh sure, there are a lot of ways to get top SE positioning, and search engine optimization (SEO) is still the bees knees. But now, there’s an even easier, more viral way to get people talking about you, searching on your keywords, and making the search engines stand up and take notice of you. That’s right! It’s called Web 2.0, and it’s revolutionizing the way people think, work and live in the 21st century. Web 2.0 isn’t a place; it isn’t a specific Website or program. Web 2.0 is a new way of using the Internet in a more creative, interactive and outreaching way than ever before! So now that the bell has rung and you’re salivating in anticipation of the information you’re about to receive, I will delay no longer. But allow me to enter this segue. I have tested and stayed with many of these Web 2.0 sites and can personally attest to the power of social marketing. Plus, it didn’t cost me a dime to join any of them! However, neither I nor IVAA endorse any of these services. So do your own research and decide for yourself if Web 2.0 is the way to go for your own unique situation. Good luck and happy marketing! AddThis Ask MyStuff Backflip BlinkList BlogTalkRadio (BTR) del.icio.us Diigo Facebook Faves Furl iGoogle linkaGoGo Linkedin ma.gnolia Mister Wong Multiply netvibes netvoux Newsvine orkut Pageflakes Piczo Plaxo Propeller Simpy Slashdot Spurl Squidoo StumbleUpon Tagged Technorati Windows Live Spaces Xanga YouTube
### Melanie O’Kane is President of MAD Typing and Consulting, a virtual assistant company based in Madison, Wisconsin, that provides administrative, creative and business writing services to clients throughout the United States. O’Kane is an administrative veteran; successful e-book author; Host of Melanie O'Kane Radio on BlogTalkRadio; and Founder/President of The Lemonade Stand, a division of MAD Typing and Consulting dedicated to helping new and up-and-coming virtual assistants start their own businesses (from home) in the secretarial services industry. Learn more about Melanie and what she's up to by visiting her online at http://www.mad-typing-and-consulting.com. |