Subscribe to Optaros RSS feedMany companies are struggling with the best way to upgrade their corporate website presence to Web 2.0. The desire is to re-design the site to reflect a Web 2.0 aesthetic and incorporate new functionality such as RSS, blogs, podcasts, vodcasts, widgets and Rich Internat Application (RIA) functionality.
We faced the same challenge and scoured the market for options. What we found was quite frustrating. There are options to tack on blogs or podcasts in a one-off manner but we could not find any option for a holistically designed site to achieve the desired business objectives leveraging new Web 2.0 functionality.
As a result, we assembled our own solution called WC2 (Website Corporate 2.0) and it is powering this corporate website. Below is a description of the high level features.
Web Corporate 2.0 (WC2) Features
WC2 is a complete solution for enterprises looking to provide Web 2.0 capabilities on their corporate websites in a well designed and integrated fashion. WC2 includes all elements required in the solution: design, content loading, templates, software, user-friendly administration, application monitoring and support. Any required hosting, integration and custom design needs can be met for an additional fee without having to engage additional parties.
WC2 Highlighted Feature List
Integrated Web 2.0 Design: Most corporate sites that have added Web 2.0 functionality such as blogs, podcasts, vodcasts, etc. have done so as tack-on capabilities that are not integrated into the existing site and make for a confusing user experience. The next generation of corporate websites must incorporate these capabilities natively in a well thought through user experience design. Core capabilities to support a unified design include the following:
1.0 and 2.0 Navigation: Hierarchical taxonomies AND tagging supported.
Dynamic Associations: Dynamic content can be added to the site at anytime and associated with the hierarchical navigational nodes AND tags.
Rich Media: Space and layout designed to show, not tell, the desired messages.
Content Syndication: RSS feeds for users to subscribe to receive content updates.
Interaction: Configurable visitor registration and ability to comment on blogs and other dynamic content.
Popularity Ratings: Capture most popular pages and display info to visitors to aid navigation.
11, Web 2.0 Templates: Web 2.0 functionality has been incorporated into eleven (11) professionally designed, configurable templates to fully integrate these new capabilities into corporate website requirements. Template examples include:
Website Marketing Optimization: Maximizing corporate awareness and demand generation requires a strong focus on measurement to track results.Featured Rich Content: Most corporate websites highlight key customer case studies or product service offerings. This template enables the use of videos/vodcasts and podcasts to provide a rich media experience. In addition, dynamic content can be associated with these pages (such as blogs) and displayed down a right column.
RIA List: For corporate list items such as job openings, news, articles, events, the Rich Internet Application (RIA) list provides display of lists with detailed information display dynamically on the same page
Dynamic Content: For corporate areas that require the demonstration of expertise or other information that needs to be continually updated. This dynamic content can be configured as blogs with photos of staff members or as corporate content with no names or photos associated.
Tag Cloud Search: Ability for site visitors to search and find content based on tags placed on the content in addition to traditional taxonomy navigation.
Website Analytics: Google analytics is provided to track core website metrics, marketing campaign performance and adwords performance.
RSS Syndication Tracking: Track the number of syndication requests to determine tactic popularity.
Organic Search Optimization: URL definitions to maximize recognition by search engines.
Integrations: Most enterprises desire automated integrations between systems that interface with their website. As a leading systems integrator, we often provide the following integrations:
Single sign-on (enables seamless integration with your existing LDAP directory for all corporate users)
CRM (files: share PDFs, Word docs and other "non-Web native" content with your community
Administration: A key to successful administration of corporate websites is the ability for Marketing to administer and update content directly in a user-friendly manner that does not require IT support for normal operations.
Rich Media: Simply upload photos, videos, podcasts to the desired location.
Blogs: Each designated content creator can enter content through a rich text editor (simple browser interface to include styled text and links), associate with the chosen taxonomy and select existing tags and add new ones from a single page.
Menus: Names of navigation items are simply managed in a list.
Content: All content entered in the site is easily accessible for updating and editing
Associations: Determining where dynamic content appears is as simple as selecting the desired page from a pull-down menu.