It’s that time of year when I have over-indulged but am bright about the coming year and ready to plan. Despite 2008 not finishing so great for many businesses, I personally can’t help but feel confident about 2009.
The web will continue to change (state the bleedin’ obvious Craig) and it’s a case of testing theories sooner rather than later to compete or succeed online. So here are my personal top web predictions for 2009:
Localisation of search
I am already noticing the localisation of search. For instance, I have a Google application on my iPhone that delivers search results based on my actual location via GPS.
It makes sense. Apart from buying product online, we all tend to work with local companies when suppliers are not scarce and perhaps with cost cutting in businesses, coupled with travel being so expensive and the weak pound, why not do business with the company around the corner?
The biggest problem / challenge / opportunity for many businesses is that there websites are not set up to be local. We localised The Escape website early in 2008 to be focused on Basingstoke and have seen a massive growth in local business to the tune of approx £50-70k for the year, without losing any business from father afield. If anything our presence is becoming higher in other local towns, such as Andover, Reading, Winchester and Southampton – more than enough work to keep us busy there.
So, as far as localisation goes, I guess it’s a case of the refining of content (where applicable) or the creation of some geographically niche micro sites.
Social influence will become even more important
If you don’t engage with your audience, you better watch out. Social influence will continue to grow as tools becoming slicker at ‘passing it on’. Whether ‘it’ is good word-of-mouth or bad – people will be better placed to talk about you.
As well as the usual suspects, such as Facebook, Twitter (still growing fast) and Blogs, Google is also becoming more social with search data in the shape of Searchwiki.
This makes it even more important to impress people with your web presence. No longer will you be able to wing it – there’s just too much choice for your customers online now. It comes down to whether they tell you, or just go somewhere else and tell all their friends.
I will be testing Twitter more, to try to deliver actual business. I will also be utilizing video more through You Tube and turning some Facebook groups into Facebook Pages, as well as ascertaining actual viability of platforms such as Squidoo.
Rapid growth of open source
I was brought up on a diet of Microsoft and ASP for the past few years but what with the need for rapid deployment coupled with a need to cut costs, I can imagine more and more commercial organisations moving over to open source during 2009.
I know I will be pushing very hard at The Escape for PHP based static solutions, with WordPress for news/updates. Or, even WordPress for scaled-down content-managed solutions.
I will also be pushing more and more of my starter websites through applications such as WordPress (to generate quick content) until they are deserving of a makeover (design and functionality).
Video has come of age
Talking of You Tube, video is now of age. There is no better way to engage people online than by using video in an effective way. I spoke to Daryll, an NLP friend, last week about this on – guess what – video. You can see the video about engaging people online here.
Focusing resources
Finally (one for me especially) is the need to focus on the projects that have legs. Marketing and spending time / budget on web projects is all about return on investment. In the same way that businesses need to trim costs for 2009, I need (and I guess some of you may too) to reduce the burden on certain projects that are not delivering.
This isn’t just a ‘me’ thing though. I can imagine a lot of big brands, although ready to plough their money into online, will be doing so dilligently… at least they should be.
Summary
2009 should see a consolidation of sorts online, with many companies looking to leverage what they have. On the flip side, many companies will dissappear or scale back greatly due to the current global economic situation. The winners, as ever, will be those organizations that are the most flexible and quick off the mark in delivering. So, here we are on the 1st January so, on your marks, get set…. GO.