The Digital Handshake: Seven Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media

Chapter 15. A Brief Word About Web Sites, E-mail Marketing, and Search Engines

CREATE AN ENGAGING WEB SITE

The Day of the Online Brochure is Over

Remember the early days of the Internet when Web sites were little more than electronic brochures, static relics of the days when most companies barely noticed the Web? Because content never changed, visitors weren't inclined to return. Neither were search engines.

Thankfully, those days are long gone, and now Web sites provide value to both groups of visitors, human and machine. Even with all this talk of fancy Web 2.0 paraphernalia, I believe the company Web site still has relevance. However, because of the influence of social media, in order for it to maintain its standing in the future, changes will be required. The corporate site will have to become an aggregate of proprietary and social content and become a conduit for social interaction.

The Internet Is More About Connections and Less About Destinations

I'm going to make an assertion that some may find arguable. I believe that, in its current iteration, the Web is less about "destination silos" and more about "shared connections." In other words, it's no longer just about getting visitors to come to our Web site. In fact, that's almost an arrogant attitude that suggests the Web is about "me, myself, and I." That may have been the way the Web operated in a former time, but it is not the ...