10 Website Trends for 2010
Now is an opportune time to take a step back and assess the website trends for the coming year. By identifying website trends for 2010 now, you will be able to develop a progressive plan for your website that will achieve greater results for your business this year.
So, let’s dig in and check out some of the biggest trends to expect:
10 Website Trends for 2010
Digital Keystone
Your web identity now goes way beyond your company website. Think about your blog, Twitter feed, Facebook page, Flickr images and any involvement you have in online social conversations. However, your website still acts as the keystone of your corporate digital profile. Just expect it to integrate more with your expansive digital footprint.
Practicality Reigns
The economy still stinks. And this means that companies are taking a more practical approach to websites. It’s not going to be about flashiness and novelty this year. Instead, brainstorm ways to make your website as useful to your target audience as possible.
The Power of Blogs
Blogs are still a tremendous vehicle for enhancing your online brand and for raising your visibility in the search engines. Setting up a blog is extremely easy. The value proposition is just too outrageously strong for companies to ignore it in 2010. Although some people said that blogs were dead upon the arrival of Twitter, that is simply not the case. Expect not only more blogs this year, but also better integration with corporate websites and also more video blogs.
Digital Integration
With the explosion of social media and social networking, expect a lot of social marketing integration with websites this year. Take a look at Skittles.com for a great example of this. Skittles has gone to the extreme of dropping you on their Facebook Fan Page when you head to their website, with a dashboard panel that connects you with its Twitter feed, YouTube videos, product pages, etc.
Mobile, Mobile, Mobile
The iPhone and iTouch have reached an adoption rate 8X that of AOL after its launch. More than 3 billion iPhone apps have been downloaded to date. Mobile app downloads are to reach $5 billion by 2014. More than 50 million people access the web via their mobile device. Face it, we are mobile. Get used to it. And this means ensuring that your website is viewable and optimized on mobile devices. It also means you should explore all mobile specific options for your site.
Interactivity
Expect more interactivity in 2010. Interactivity is a key advantage of the web over many offline marketing vehicles, and the technology keeps making it easier to incorporate interactivity into websites. Explore options such as forums, Q&A, surveys, polls, contests, suggestions, commenting, crowdsourcing, etc. If you do not provide options for interactivity, users will take it into their own hands — just check out Google Sidewiki, which enables users to comment on ANY website.
Video Everywhere
People love video. It’s as simple as that. YouTube serves roughly 10 billion videos on a monthly basis. Expect to see videos EVERYWHERE in 2010. They will be on home pages, on product pages, in educational content, on YouTube.com and MetaCafe.com, and in blogs. A good example of this is Wine Library TV, with more than 125,000 monthly unique visitors.
Clean, High Quality Design
Expect design to get better this year. There has been an overemphasis on DIY and free templates/tools for the small business community in the past. For anyone serious about their website, they need to take their website design seriously. This typically means hiring a professional website designer. The investment is worth it. In 2010, expect a higher level of quality of illustrations. Check out Meomi Design’s website, and it will open your mind to the possibilities of exceptional design for your site.
Personalization
Leveraging the examples of Threadless.com, Zazzle.com or Lulu.com, expect more personalization in websites in 2010. What the world is really waiting for is a simpler, easier and more scalable way to implement personalization in small business websites. The Website Marketing NOW team believes that such platforms will start to appear in 2010.
Big
There’s a trend towards big now. This means big headers, big type, big images, big calls to action. Think big, big, big. For examples, check out Matt Mullenweg’s blog, Infusionsoft and PixelResort.
Related posts:
- 3 Website Design Trends for 2009
- 2009 Online Trends
- Internet Marketing Trends for 2009
- Website Trends: Personalization
- NEW Marketing Trends Report!
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