Is it Becoming Less Critical For Businesses to Have Websites?

Is it Becoming Less Critical For Businesses to Have Websites?

Can You Be Successful Without a Website?
Tuesday, February 16, 2010

By Chris Crum

I don't think there's any question that you need a web presence to survive in today's business climate. But do you still need a traditional website, or has the web moved on in that regard?

Do you still need a website to be successful online? Share your thoughts.

First off, let me be perfectly clear in that I'm not advising anybody not to have a website. That said, there are a lot of ways to have a web presence without actually having a site, and let's face it - maintaining a site (let alone a successful one) takes time, money, and resources.

According to data from Compete, Facebook has become a bigger traffic source than Google for some sites, and for many others, it is right up there with Google as a major traffic source. If it can drive the traffic, then that means the people are already at Facebook. You can be on Facebook without having your own website. Businesses can build a Facebook Page, complete with analytics provided by Facebook itself, and they can spend time making that page a good one. Here are some tips on how to do that. Facebook pages are perfectly capable of being found in search engines. In fact, they are often right on the first results page.

You know what else is often right on the first page? A set of local search results from Google Maps, courtesy of Google's Universal Search integration. Within those results (which are very often right at the top of the SERP) are links to individual businesses' "Place Pages". From here, users can find coupons, reviews, store hours, etc. There is a very good chance users will find this before they find your site anyway.



Google is actually going to great lengths to get people using these Place Pages. They are even sending out stickers with barcodes for stores to hang on their windows. When a user scans this barcode with their mobile phone, they will be taken to the business' Place Page. Social media profiles can also appear on these pages (although so can website links of course).

I probably don't have to tell you that the web is rapidly becoming more mobile. Smartphone usage and mobile broadband subscriptions continue to accelerate, and people are using a variety of devices, operating systems, browsers, and apps. Making sure you have a site that looks right across all of these is no easy task. This is not so much of a worry when it comes to Facebook pages, Google Place Pages, and other third-party entities.

In many cases, it seems that small business sites are becoming harder to find through organic search. If you look you can find them, but users want convenience, and they are probably not going to look too hard if they can find what they are looking for on the first search results page (or right within Facebook where they're already spending their time).

Social profiles show in up in search, and often early. The very nature of social media is viral. If one Facebook user becomes a fan of your Facebook page, that user's friends are going to see it. Then, maybe a couple of them also become fans. Then maybe a couple of their friends become fans, and that trend can continue on and on. The more people who become fans, and the more exposure that page gets, the more chance that page has of acquiring links, which of course can lead to better search engine rankings, not to mention a larger presence on Facebook itself, where a large percentage of Internet users are already spending a great deal of their time. Your reputation and following within the social networks themselves may do your profile well in the eyes of Google too.

If you sell things online, there are obviously many different options out there without having to sell from your own site. In fact, even Facebook and e-commerce are on the road to becoming more and more closely attached. People can buy/sell physical goods through Facebook.

A great deal of focus has been placed on Facebook in this article for the simple fact that it is the world's most popular social network. That could all change in time. But that doesn't mean the points would not sill apply to other services. Google is going to be placing a lot of emphasis on Google Buzz this year, and it's going to become integrated with more and more Google products. Currently, Google profiles are kind of the central place for a Buzz presence. Users can include any links they wish right into that profile (Facebook page, Twitter account, blog, eBay/Amazon listings, etc.)There's no telling how big Buzz can be, and there's always the possibility that something else will come along and take the world by storm. And that is one of the reasons...

Why it Still Pays to Have a Site

Can you be successful without a site? I think so. However, having a site gives you a more stable foundation, and still creates more opportunities than if you didn't have one. When you have a site, you have control. You don't have to adhere to the policy guidelines of any third-party platform. If Facebook decides to shut its Pages down (as Yahoo did with GeoCities, for example), you still have your own site that they can't touch. For that matter, having your own site certainly lends credibility to your brand.

Still, social networks continue to work on making data more freely able to flow among one another via a number of open standards like Activity Streams, AtomPub, OAuth, PubSubHubbub, Salmon and WebFinger. "The idea is that someday, any host on the web should be able to implement these open protocols and send messages back and forth in real time with users from any network, without any one company in the middle," says Google software engineer DeWitt Clinton. "The web contains the social graph, the protocols are standard web protocols, the messages can contain whatever crazy stuff people think to put in them. Google Buzz will be just another node (a very good node, I hope) among many peers. Users of any two systems should be able to send updates back and forth, federate comments, share photos, send @replies, etc., without needing Google in the middle and without using a Google-specific protocol or format."

Google itself, even has its own site dedicated to making user data for its various products exportable. That's just Google, but the web in general appears to be moving more in this direction.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't have a site, or even that you don't need one, but I think it's an interesting discussion. For now, I'm going to say having your own site is still in your best interest, but has a more social Internet with more portable data made a standalone site less critical? Is having a website going to be less important in the future? 

via webpronews.com

Mashable’s Ben Parr Talks Google Buzz on G4’s Attack of the Show [VIDEO]

Mashable’s Ben Parr Talks Google Buzz on G4’s Attack of the Show [VIDEO]

Mashable Co-Editor Ben Parr made an appearance on G4’s Attack of the Show this afternoon to talk Google Buzz – the new service you can access through Gmail that the social media world is still (for lack of a better word) buzzing about after its big debut on Tuesday.
How is Buzz being used already, and how might the service evolve over the next few months? See and hear Ben’s thoughts on that and more in the segment below. Also — don’t forget to follow Mashable on Buzz if you’re so inclined.

via mashable.com

Google Buzz Surpasses 9 Million Posts and Comments

Google Buzz Surpasses 9 Million Posts and Comments

GMAIL USERS: You’re invited to join the conversation on Mashable’s Google Buzz account.
Google () Buzz just launched on Tuesday, but it looks like it’s already made a big splash with Gmail () users. Now the Google team is moving quickly to make rapid improvements based on user feedback.
First the numbers: According to Google, its Buzz service already has more than nine million posts and comments. Remember, this is a service that launched on Tuesday, meaning that it’s getting more than 160,000 comments and posts per hour. That’s a staggering, staggering number.
Mobile usage is also gaining in popularity — more than 200 posts per minute by mobile phone according to the search giant.
Despite those numbers, there have been a number of complaints about Google Buzz () in terms of usability and privacy. In rather rapid fashion, Google has responded to those criticism in a blog post highlighting several new changes it has made.
Specifically, there are three new changes to Google Buzz: 

1. It’s now easier to hide your followers/following lists. The option is now more visible in the set-up process and exists in the profile editing section of Buzz.

2. It’s easier now to block anybody who is following you. Before, you could only block people who created a public profile.
3. Buzz now distinguishes between followers with public profiles and those with private profiles.

These changes came quite rapidly, and we’re thrilled that they’re now more prominent parts of Google Buzz. They were major concerns that the company needed to alleviate. We just didn’t think they would be able to do it in two days.

via mashable.com

HOW TO: Integrate Facebook, Twitter, and Buzz into Your Gmail

HOW TO: Integrate Facebook, Twitter, and Buzz into Your Gmail

With over 9 million posts and comments in two days, Google Buzz has stormed the web like a swarm of locusts. An array of strong features, integration with Gmail, and lots of press have turned Buzz into an overnight phenomenon.
If you’re like a lot of us, you’ve suddenly found yourself using your Gmail even more than you already were. Spending so much time in Gmail and Buzz though inevitably takes away from your Facebook and Twitter, and who wants to sacrifice their tweeting and facebooking?
Luckily if you’re a Gmail user, you don’t have to sacrifice either, even while you’re browsing your email or your buzz.

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Gadget Integration Is Your Friend

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Yesterday we caught a Buzz post by Ari Milner where he described how he turned his Gmail into his personal “social command center.” How did he do it? In his words:

“The key was using Gmail Labs feature at the bottom of the list called ‘Add any gadget by URL’. This allowed me to add these 3 features to my Gmail sidebar.”

By utilizing third-party gadgets, he transformed his Gmail into a place where he could access his Twitter, Buzz, and Facebook straight from his Gmail. Here’s how:

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Step By Step: Integrating Your Social Media into Buzz

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1. Activate “Add any gadget by URL” in Gmail Labs — you’ll find it near the bottom of the list.
2. Now go to Settings –> Gadgets. Here you’ll find a place to add Gadget URLs.
3. Add the TwitterGadget App. Any iGoogle gadget will do actually, but the best one in our opinion is TwitterGadget, a fully-functional Twitter service for iGoogle and Gmail. This lets tweet from the sidebar or open up your Twitter with all of your tabs intact. It even supports multiple accounts.

To add it, copy and paste this URL into Gmail’s Gadget settings: “https://twittergadget.appspot.com/gadget-gmail.xml”

4. Add the Facebook Gadget. In the same way you added TwitterGadget, you can add Facebook to your Gmail. While Google has an official Facebook gadget, it doesn’t play nicely with Gmail, so we suggest using the app Ari Milner users: Facebook Gadget by iBruno. It will expand into the rest of your Gmail for easy Facebook management.

To add it, copy and paste this URL into Gmail’s Gadget settings: “http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/104971404861070329537/facebook.xml”

5. That’s it! Google Buzz, Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail are now all wrapped up into one. Pretty nifty, no? Let us know about your experience in the comments.

via mashable.com

What Twitter is saying about Google Buzz

          February 10, 2010 |  2:29 pm

Since announcing Google Buzz on Tuesday morning, the social network remained a hot topic of discussion on Twitter. A day later, it remains in Twitter's No. 2 trending topic spot worldwide.

After cutting through the chatter, the comments are a mixed bag with no clear positive or negative reaction, according to the social media analysts at the Parnassus Group.
The terms most frequently associated with the initial responses to Google Buzz were Twitter and Facebook, according to the report. Commentators are analyzing and weighing the differences between the leading social networks and Google's newest entrant.
As we said in a video filmed Tuesday, Google Buzz is a mix between the follower dynamics of Twitter and the media-richness of Facebook -- along with other Facebook-like features including commenting and the ability to "like" a post.
Paul Buchheit, FriendFeed founder who now works at Facebook since his company was acquired, wrote, "There's a FriendFeed in my Gmail. Sweet!"
Despite Buzz being the major topic of conversation on Twitter in the last 24 hours or so, it doesn't compare with the excitement garnered by other recent product announcements -- including a certain Google phone.
"The overall volume of chatter is running at about half that for the Nexus One launch and one tenth that of the iPad," wrote Parnassus Group founder Steve Broback in an e-mail.
-- Mark Milian
twitter.com/markmilian

via latimesblogs.latimes.com