If you are a small business owner with a brochure type site, and have heard about web2.0 (Web2 isn’t stopping), then you are probably wondering what you can do to update your site.
Even if you aren’t prepared to ‘go web2’ completely there are a few things you can do that will start the ball rolling and modernize your site. Here are some suggestions:
1) Start adding content. A blog with new articles every day or few days is ideal, but most people don’t have the time to invest in either writing that much content themselves, or supervising someone else to do it. You can still add content though on static html pages, and include a link to the new articles on the front page. Everyday or a few times a week is ideal, but if that is to frequent to keep up with, try once every 2 weeks.
2) Add Social Bookmark menus. Social Bookmark sites like del.icio.us.com, technorati.com and digg.com are growing at a phenomenal pace and are a great source of targeted traffic. These menus usually come with blogs, but there are stand alone JAVA social bookmark menus that can be installed on any HTML page. See AddtoBookmark.com.
3) Add you own articles. Jump start the process by opening an account with 6 or 8 Social Bookmarking sites and add your own articles. Be careful not to SPAM — add your own article once.
Keep adding content and it will pay off with more traffic and better targeted traffic.
I think there is much to be gained by small businesses transitioning their websites from web1.0 (brochure-ware) to web2.0 (2-way). A major component of a web2.0 site in my mind that you didn’t mention was that the content is subscribable via RSS, so that people do not just visit it once and never return. Another major component of a web2.0 site is that it is search engine optimized, so that people searching in that small businesses niche can be “found” versus having the site only be visited by people in the small business owners existing rolodex.
— Brian Halligan.