There is no doubt that you often hear the terms Web 2.0 and Content 2.0 but may not know what they mean.
Web 2.0 can help you to increase organic traffic. Do not worry – many people are in the same position.
What Is Web 2.0 And Content 2.0?
There are many sophisticated, even academic definitions of Web 2.0 and Content 2.0, but all of them use the following as characteristics of Web 2.0:
- User Generated Content,
- Communication,
- Networking, and
- Interactivity.
Actually, the most important feature of Web 2.0 is Content 2.0 – or user generated content. It is also known as consumer created content which refers to users’ interaction and participation in various kinds of media to contribute their opinion.
User Generated content is information produced by end-users and publicly available for the search engine to index.
This kind of content is a result of the phrase ‘everyone has an opinion.’ This means everyone has something to say that will benefit, contribute, or agitate others. Such an opinion could be as the result of gossip, reviews, blogging, participating in an important or controversial topic posted in a forum, or writing articles and posting them on directories.
The most important thing is that ordinary people like you and me have the power to contribute our opinion to the world through internet social media or social networking media (like MySpace or Facebook).
The great thing about user contributed content is the fact that it is raw, it has not been engineered or edited by experts who may have authority on the subject matter and many users consider user-contributed content as more reliable, credible, and unbiased.
An example of user-contributed content is when you go to Amazon, read a book, and post your views based on what you perceive as important to you and what the writer was able to present to you. This type of review is unbiased because you have nothing against the author; you just say it as you see it.
How Does Web 2.0 Differ From Web 1.0?
Web 2.0 sites are all about user creativity and this is the main difference with Web 1.0 sites, which were more of official boards of companies and individuals, than a place where users can communicate freely and exchange ideas.
The easiest way to think of Web 1.0 vs. 2.0 is ‘One Way versus Two Way’ communication.
Web 1.0:
- is an immediate connection.
- is Time Unbound.
- has a One-Way communication; and
- Is Mass driven
Web 2.0:
- Will help you to increase your organic traffic
- is an immediate connection.
- is Time Unbound?
- has a Two-Way communication, and
- is Mass driven?
Types Of Web 2.0 Sites
There are many types of Web 2.0 sites. Some of the most popular ones are blogs, social bookmarking sites, social networking sites, RSS feeds, peer-to-peer networks, online encyclopedias, such as Wikipedia, etc. In fact, almost any popular site, such as Blogger, Facebook or Meta, YouTube, Tumbler, WordPress.com, or Weebly falls into the Web 2.0 group.
There are many different ways to contribute to Web 2.0. Some are listed below:
Users are the ones who decide what is cool and what is not by choosing which sites they want to bookmark and share with specific people or groups inside certain networks. Such links can be stored and viewed chronologically, by category or tags – sites like Digg, Facebook / Meta, Pinterest, Twitter are examples.
Wikis
It is a free online encyclopedia which is a collection of web pages, and it is designed for users who have access to contribute their knowledge and expertise. Other users are also encouraged to participate, edit existing articles, and add their own facts – Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis.
Social Networking Sites and Peer-to-Peer Networks
Grouping individuals into specific groups based on personal interests (hobbies, religion, or politics), business interests or common activities (golf, skiing, or home schooling) – such users meet each other online or offline and communicate directly. Such online sites are called social sites.
Blogs are an abbreviation for the term ‘web logs. They are websites that are usually maintained by individuals who may use them as a diary, provide a commentary or news, or write on a particular subject – they simply make their thoughts and feelings visible to the world through text, audio, or video.
Users post their topics which could be in the form of questions, content, free articles or concerns, and other users go there to post a reply. Many big forums are members only, and the contents are for the benefit of members only.
Advantages & Disadvantages Of Web 2.0
If Web 2.0 did not have so many advantages its users derive or perceive some from it, Web 2.0 wouldn’t have taken the Net by storm. However, no matter how great Web 2.0 is, it has some disadvantages as well.
For easy view, we have both the web 2.0 advantages and disadvantages side by side for you.
Advantages of Web 2.0
- Web 2.0 has made the internet more interesting, and it has brought life to it by introducing many more methods of content entry like blogs, forums & wikis.
- Web 2.0 is democratic in nature and allows ordinary people to voice their opinion and to discover their creative self.
- It allows for a wider content provider base – where more knowledge can be covered.
- It provides non-tailored, non-engineered contents from individuals who are not biased, who contribute their opinion, knowledge, and expertise for others to gain free of charge.
- It allows all users who are interested to become internet participants instead of just sitting down watching what is going on as a spectator.
- Decades ago, not many people could afford an encyclopedia. Now it takes just a few clicks, and you can access the wisdom of ages online.
- Web 2.0 is perceived by many as something cool and progressive.
Disadvantages of Web 2.0
- Web 2.0 content cannot be guaranteed as authentic because the contents are written based on writers’ opinion, knowledge and understanding.
- The democratic nature of contents can cause duplication and/or overlapping.
- The credibility of the content might not be apparent; readers might have to do more research to affirm the genuineness of the content.
- The easy availability of content submission sites might cause users to post unhelpful information for other users to read and perceive as the truth.
- Since there is no central authority to monitor what is submitted online, content is poured in without any logic, structure and/or information classification.
- The concept of ‘the wisdom of the crowds’ often leads to system abuse and profanities.
- Web 2.0 sites are difficult to organize as some of the sites have to monitor and prevent bad activities. They may also need to check for grammatical errors to make sure their sites are decent and not perceived as junk.
Advantages Of Web 2.0 Over Current Traffic Generation On The Web
One of the areas (in addition to content) where Web 2.0 caused a real revolution is traffic building. Before Web 2.0 sites existed, generating traffic to your site usually meant spending money on paid advertisement and promotion or at least actively submitting it to Web directories or other places, where users rarely go to see what interesting new sites are available on the Net.
Web 2.0 made all this history!
Now, the most important tool for organic traffic generation is content.
If you have useful content and make the right efforts to promote it via the free Web 2.0 opportunities, you will experience so much traffic that you might not believe that all this is happening to you.
As we will repeat many times in ‘How-To Get Organic Traffic,’ Content is King, so if you wonder where to start your organic traffic building from, the answer is simple…
Start with setting up your blog and create lots of relevant content for it!
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