Seeing Around Corners – 2010 Internet Prognostications
The phone rang and the caller said he was interested in my opinions. I asked him what he was selling. He swore it was my mind he sought and not my wallet. Indeed Walter from MidwestBusiness.com/ AssociatedGeos.com wanted to know what I thought about internet stuff in 2010. Given the million possible directions things might go I could be as accurate as just about anybody. So I told Walter to fire away.
The questions covered a lot of territory, each one worth an evening of discussion with Elmer T. Lee Bourbon and a handful of my Interweb geek friends. Nevertheless, we distilled the responses into a few short paragraphs. I think the issues are more important than how I responded. I’d be interested in other perspectives. Consider adding yours:
Associated Geos:
What are the top three technological changes in website presentation that operators need to be aware of for 2010 and beyond?
Me:
- Open source content management systems, which has long-since been reliable, are gaining visibility, momentum and greater public respectability. One great example of this is that whitehouse.gov was just re-launched based on the open source Drupal content management system.
- Proprietary content management systems are being recognized as high risk and unnecessary. With the greater acceptability of open source content management systems as well as more moderately priced and full-featured commercially supported content management systems such as Hannon Hill’s Cascade Server, it is both unnecessary as well as high risk to develop a website based on a proprietary content management system only supported by a handful of developers at one company.
- Content distribution networks such as those provided by Akamai, Amazon’s CloudFront and other are becoming a more important piece of website presentation. This is happening in part because sites are becoming more complex and often include more imagery and media. The demand on bandwidth is stressing many existing website caching strategies and accelerating the move to more sophisticated ways of serving dynamic content.
Associated Geos:
In a crowded web marketplace, what really makes a website stand out today?
Me:
Content remains king. Developing a good looking website is simply ‘Web Development 101’ – it has to be taken for granted and it not a differentiator. But arriving at a website and being presented with well written (or produced in the case of media) content that is easy to locate remains the biggest challenge. If I had to choose between a great web copywriter or a great designer I’d select the writer. (Oh, I’m going to catch hell for this from my team members).
Associated Geos:
What government intervention issues do website operators need to be aware of coming up in 2010?
Me:
With so much commerce moving to the Internet, the tax man cannot be far behind. The web, of course, has all these jurisdictional issues that have been an effective brake on taxes, but where there is a budget deficit, there will be a new revenue source. The internet is too huge to be overlooked.
Associated Geos:
How can the net neutrality debate potentially affect operators?
Me:
Net neutrality is the elephant in the room. What we don’t want to see happen on the internet is the disaster that is the U.S. cell phone industry – which created a false and wholly unnecessary connection between a device and a network (e.g. iPhone & AT&T). Operators don’t want to discover that being on one distribution network is somehow a disadvantage to any other distribution network, for any reason other than price and performance. Let the market determine the outcome.
Associated Geos:
In web consulting, what are some of the traits of a website that you focus on when doing initial assessment for a potential client?
Me:
We believe that a website should have a job description. Like any organization’s employee, or maybe a branch office, a website must have objectives and be accountable for achieving those objectives. Therefore, when we talk to clients about their website, we first ask them what they want to achieve. Then we suggest what else they might achieve. Finally, we figure out how to measure that performance.
I would be lying if I didn’t say that this approach catches many site publishers off guard. Many expect us just to pick up our crayons and start drawing pretty pictures of websites. We don’t get to design until somewhere in the middle of the project.
Associated Geos:
In looking at Geo Domain websites (like chicago.com), what trends do you think they should think about in evolving their specific location information and presentation?
Me:
While the Internet is a global medium, web publishers must still think in terms of serving a targeted audience. And by targeted, I mean aim for the bulls-eye of the target, not the fringe. Know your audience and speak to them. In fact, don’t speak to ‘them,’ speak to ‘him’ and ‘her.’ It is important to remember that although the web publisher is serving sites to many visitors, the site and its content is consumed on a personal and individual basis.
Additionally, although the mega-sites like CNN or Facebook get a lot of attention, the web is a utility for obtaining local information. It is amazing to me that the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker still remain hugely oblivious to the opportunities of having a useful and effective local presence online.
Associated Geos: How does simplicity work best in website presentation? In this crowded internet environment, is simpler a better way to go?
Me:
Simpler is better but not because the internet environment is crowded but because the site visitor’s life is crowded. If the site publisher does not make a direct appeal to the specific need of the visitor, they will not optimize their results. We still see websites with home pages that have everything stuck on it like the notes on my refrigerator at home. Publishers must understand that if they think everything is important and deserves prominence, then nothing is truly important. Setting information priorities is tough but it is essential.
