Sunday, October 9, 2011

Incorporating Web 2.0 Concepts to Your website Design

 Web 2.0 elements have become a very important part of the modern day web designing. Web 2.0 involves creating a user driven website. It’s basically allowing the site visitors to interact with your company and/or other visitors. The user generated content is vital; the content could be in the form of forums, blogs, articles, reviews, comments and so on. Web 2.0 concept is essential to further improve the usability of your website and satisfy your visitors. Here are few nice ideas to equip your website with some handy web 2.0 features and stay ahead of the competition as a modern player using latest web 2.0 technologies.
Product Reviews – Many people want to see what the other customers who have actually used the product have to say about it before they decide to buy a certain product. Reviews submitted by other customers is a great interactive medium and it plays a key role in encouraging the new customers to buy products from you. Setup a mechanism to collect reviews from your customers and with their consent publish them in your site, linking them properly with the relevant product. You might get controversial discussions and intense arguments. Let your customers speak their mind about your products, this will not only help other potential customers but it will give you lots of ideas to improve your product offering as well. Besides reviews are a fantastic method of adding lots of new and relevant content to your website that will give you the added advantage of SEOvalue.
 Forums - Forums are a discussion platform for your customers. It’s actually a type of virtual community which allows your customers or visitors to share their ideas and opinions with each other. People can ask questions and get answers from a fellow customer who has a better knowledge or experience on that particular subject. Get some good forum monitors and admins in place to make sure you have an active discussion forum that is running smoothly.

Competitions – Organize competitions and invite your customers or visitors to participate. Your competition may involve posting on your forum or blog. You can even run a contest to select the best photos or videos from your customers. Each individual who posts on your forum or blog would enter into the prize draw, and you can select a winner monthly and award a prize.
 Polls and Surveys – Include a poll or survey feature to your web design, and interact with your customers simply by asking questions relating to your products. It is an effective way to get them involved in the site. You could also conduct a survey about your customers; this gives them an opportunity to convey their opinions and what changes they would like to see. Collecting feedback is important for new developments in your product and your site. The poll or survey data you collect can be gold to your customer feedback system for the future of your business.

Newsletters - Newsletters can be very interactive method, you can use a weekly or a monthly newsletter to announce special promotions or discounts, highlight forum or blog posts, publish poll or survey results, and declare the winners of your competitions and many more. It is a good way to keep in touch with your customer base, so when you are designing the website, make sure you have a separate section for them to subscribe to your newsletter. 

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