Guest Post: by Gary Klingsheim

It is not at all certain that putting version numbers on “the Web” has helped people understand the technology. Fact is, some well-known pundits contend that Web development is so fluid, so ongoing and often so transparent that terms like “Web 1.0″ and “Web 2.0″ really do not mean much by themselves. However, there certainly are particular capabilities and concentrations associated with the Web at certain times, and the version numbers provide an abbreviated way of putting them in context.

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That said, the transition from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 in terms of usefulness and value is going to be quite dramatic. It has the potential to affect how businesses operate, communicate and serve their customers. You needn’t worry that your current Web site will become inoperable, as if someone is going to throw a switch on June 7, 2010 and enforce an entirely new set of standards. Backward compatibility is pretty much a given with this technology, although many individuals and companies will certainly want to add new functionalities if they improve the sites in some way.

What is Web 2.0?

Remembering the caveat that version numbers can be misleading, we can still say that Web 3.0 is the “next stage” of the Internet’s GUI (Graphical User Interface). Before we can understand progress, we must understand the present. So, if the recent (and still current) “stage” of the Web is at 2.0, what does that mean? What defines Web 2.0?

The definition of Web 2.0 was shaped in large part by user preferences, and the preference in the last few years has been to create “communities of interest.” These can be narrow or wide, shallow or deep, serious or fun, and social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Digg led the way. Instead of being passive readers and one-way content consumers — remember when it was all about “downloading”? — as they were during the hard-to-pinpoint Web 1.0 era, consumers wanted to join in, participate and have “virtual” visits with each other.

The new aspects of Web 2.0 were not just built on new capabilities, but new consumer needs. The additional speed of the Web experience traceable to faster CPUs, broadband connections and hard drives could have been used for ever-quicker downloads, and there certainly were people who focused on that. However, “value added” thinkers saw the new speed and power as blazing a trail toward interactivity, two-way content creation (mashups and remixes, for instance) and more dependable security through tougher encryption.

Web connections

So, putting it in simple terms, the new feature of Web 2.0 was users’ ability to join, partner, co-create, share and cooperate, rather than just look at content. People were now able to create content, see others’ work, modify it (with permission) and voice their opinions. Along with the Web’s new version number, which is very difficult to date with any precision, came some new terminology, such as “rich media.” Web sites created with JavaScript, AJAX, Flash and other technologies have invited site visitors into the experience, allowing actions, interactions and a growing sense of connectedness. With people’s home videos and photos showing up all over the Web, users began to feel a sense of ownership, as well.

Web 3.0, which isn’t going to “debut” the way a new car does — on a specified date, with a handy list of features and options on the window — is the next step after Web 2.0, at least in terms of distinguishing the new capabilities. There is ongoing evolution of important Web components, like HTML 5 that is on the way, that will have far more impact on how sites are built and how they operate. The major change, once again, will be conceptual, and the technologies to institute and maintain that concept will follow. So, what’s the Web 3.0 “concept,” anyway?

Overview of Web 3.0

Standing on the shoulders of the social networking advances in Web 2.0, 3.0 will be defined by the myriad connections being made throughout the Web. As existing Web sites are drawn into these connections, at some point a “seamless Web” will result, meaning that small, separate, discrete Web sites, there will be huge networks of sites providing almost a limitless array of features. These connections will take place in many ways that are already beginning to show up.

OpenID provides a single identity that people can use across the entire Web. Although OpenID isn’t yet accepted at all sites, it is an example of Web 3.0 seamlessness and will continue to spread. Some sites, like Mixx.com, allow users to login with names and passwords from other sites and services, like Facebook, AOL and Yahoo! All of these trends are leading to the seamless Web of the future, in one possible version of which you will have a single identity for all your Web travels.

Naturally, there will be some Web sites that do not mesh well with the seamless concept, but it won’t be because of underlying technologies. It will be due to deliberate choices to use or ignore new capabilities and connections. The majority of Web 2.0 sites will transition quite nicely into Web 3.0, thank you very much. After that, of course, we can start talking about Web 4.0!
Moonrise Productions is a custom web design company specializing in custom web development and design. Whether you need web application development or social network design – contact us and we’ll get it done right.

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MadViral online since 2005, MadViral Enterprises, LLC can help you market your business with Email Advertising, Professional Unique email design services

Guest Post: By Kimberly Clay

Is your email marketing campaign not as effective as you’d like?

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Here’s what I do for about 90 percent of the email messages I receive: Delete, Delete, Delete… Some days it’s so bad, I think my finger’s going to get jammed from pressing the “Delete” button so much.

The email messages get deleted for various reasons. Since I now send email marketing messages myself, I try to pay closer attention to emails I receive but don’t read, as well as those I do read. I do this in an attempt to discern what compels me to open and read one message versus deleting another either without opening it, or very soon thereafter. The result boils down to this:

The Headline Is Important! The Headline Is Important! The Headline Is Important!

“You had me at “Hello”…Remember that line from the Jerry McGuire movie? If the subject line of your email does not grab your reader by the hair, that reader will most likely delete your message immediately. Period. End of story. Your subject line simply MUST be attention-grabbing.

Now grabbing readers’ attention can be accomplished in a variety of ways. You can appeal to their emotions, sense of curiosity, even their greed. However you choose to do it, the result must be the same. You must command the readers’ attention and get them interested enough to at least open your message instead of hitting the delete button without another second’s consideration.

I could talk about email subject lines all day, because this is such an important part of email marketing, but to make this lesson as brief as possible, let’s put it this way:

To be effective, your email subject line needs to be one or a combination of these:

1. Descriptive “As a reader, I want to know what your email is about before I open your message (see first paragraph above). Using your most relevant keyword(s) within the subject line can be helpful here. For example, if your headline reads “Receive 25% Off Clothes Purchases” my response is likely to be “So,” (yawn) and guess what comes next? Delete. But if your subject line reads “Get $25 Cash Back On Your Next Purchase of Elder Berman Jeans”, and I’m an Elder Berman customer, I’m clicking that headline!

2. Compelling – Appeal to me on an emotional or interest level. For instance, here is the subject line of an actual email I recently received: “I Have Found A Great Traffic System”. My response? “So?” Delete. There was nothing about the headline that remotely galvanized my attention, much less compelled me to take any action (like actually opening the message). Now, had that message headline read “Discover How To Add 10,000 Visitors To Your Website…” or “Kimberly, Don’t Lose Any More Traffic!”, I may have been a bit more inclined to open the message and read further.

3. Purposely Non-Descriptive “ In other words, pique my curiosity. This strategy can be a bit tricky. To be effective, you must give the reader just enough information or a “hook” to entice them to seek more, but not so much that they think they know what your message contains, and decide prematurely that they’re not interested.

For example, I recently used this email subject line: “You Can Delete This, But What If It’s True…”. While I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no great copywriter, I thought this subject line was effective for two reasons. First, I was able to take the reader a bit “off guard” by telling them to delete the message. In effect, I was predicting the action the reader was likely to take. But then, I added “…But What If It’s True”. By including this phrase, I hinted that there might be more that they would be interested in knowing; that they might miss out on something if they didn’t open the message. In addition, I left them most likely asking themselves what “It” refers to, in essence enticing them to open the email to find out what the “It” in the email message was about.

The bottom line is this, the subject line of your email is the fundamental and all-important key to getting your emails opened and read. Are there other elements of effective email marketing messages? Yes, of course there are. But, if you get this one wrong, none of the others really matter. When your email is immediately deleted, your reader never receives your core message, nor can she/he benefit from your information.

Learn to create great subject lines, and you’re well on your way to email marketing success.
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Kimberly Clay is a successful business woman with over twenty years of experience and success to her credit. She is an online entrepreneur with a passion for educating and helping others to develop online success and create wealth. For more information, visit her website at http://www.GetMyWealthNow.com or her blog at http://www.blog.GetMyWealthNow.com

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MadViral online since 2005, MadViral Enterprises, LLC can help you market your business with Email Advertising, Professional Unique email design services