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How easy would it be to "go Web 2.0" with your existing site?
If the foundations of your online business model rest on the principles of Web 2.0, you should have little trouble implementing a variety of interactive elements on your site.
But what if your business is of a more traditional nature?
What if, for instance, you run an insurance company? Or you sell management consulting services?
For companies like these, it's a little harder to open the doors and invite visitor interaction and participation on their sites.
How many insurance companies do you know that would want to invite customer comments and ratings?
However, Web 2.0 is also a challenge for thousands of companies which could clearly benefit from being more open and interactive.
The example of an insurance company is taken from one end of the spectrum. A site like Facebook lies at the other end.
But what if, for example, you sell home fitness equipment and have had your business online for almost ten years?
There are plenty of opportunities to invite visitor participation.
If I had a traditional ecommerce site selling fitness equipment and wanted to "go Web 2.0", here are some of the things I might think about doing:
- I would create a registration process and invite people to sign up as members and create full profiles.
- I would build tools to enable members to create workout programs for themselves, and allow them to record and track their progress online.
- I would create community areas, so members could share their experiences and successes with others.
- I might even create the opportunity for people in the same geographical areas to get together online, and perhaps meet offline as well.
- And, of course, I would enable members to discuss and review the fitness equipment being sold on my site.
If I implemented just a few of these ideas, and promoted them well, I could attract a large number of members, all of them using my site not only as a source of products, but also as the place where they record and track their progress....and keep in touch with other fitness enthusiasts.
However, while implementing these changes, I might encounter a huge problem.
Can you guess what that problem is? It's something I hadn't anticipated until recently, when I tried to transform a traditional site into a Web 2.0 site.
The writing on the existing site just didn't fit.
When you build a Web 2.0 site from the ground up, you can write the site's copy in a way that fits within the environment of an interactive community.
But when you have an existing site and add extensive Web 2.0 elements to it, you may find that the existing copy and content sound completely wrong.
How come? Because the original copy was written in the traditional way...and presented the company as being the sole source of authority on the site.
That last parapgraph is key. Because when your whole site is written in a way that highlights your company as having the one voice your readers can trust...it doesn't leave much space for the voices of your visitors.
A traditional site comprises dozens or hundreds or even thousands of pages on which the company is presented as THE trusted authority.
But a pure Web 2.0 site enables the voices of its visitors to carry equal weight.
So what can you do?
What happened in my case is that I had to start going through dozens of pages, making changes to the original copy.
I had to cut back on saying "we are the authority you can trust", and I had to create the sense that there was plenty of space for others to share their views, opinions and experience.
I not only had to change the content in some areas. I also had to change the tone in almost every area.
It was a huge job, but hopefully worth it.
Concluding thoughts.
Transforming a traditional site into a site that incorporates significant elements of Web 2.0 will require that you review all the key copy and content on the site.
You have to write in a way that shows the company stepping back a few paces, creating space for your visitors to add their own voices.
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