I was intruiged by a recent post by Jeremiah at the Web-Strategist.com about how the search box in a browser is circumventing the address field. I read this after sitting with a client today and discussing their mamoth 3.2 million page website. Third client actually, the first one had 100,000 pages, and second one has about 1,000 pages. How do you organize all that content?!

So here is an idea i’ve been toying with for a while. A colleague at Jufa Intermedia and I drew it out on a whiteboard over lunch one day. Should we develop it?

The idea is developing a CMS that treats pages as stand-alone pieces of micro-content. Here is the gambit: the navigation structure is dynamically created, and the pages are easy to find using search tools. So you can both explore and/or search for specific elements. If you don’t know what you want but know the topic you explore, and if you do know exactly what you want you can narrow your search down rapidly. But wait, there’s more…

People don’t usually consume whole websites, they use parts of it at any given moment of need. Search boxes are the second most used navigation element within most sites, yet most site-specific search functions… well, frankly suck.

One of the biggest problems client’s have is
how they will structure their IA:

copy the organization’s operational structure

or

discover how the user consumes the information provided.

The answer is sort of obvious from an effective marketing stand-point – you design for the user. But it’s not that simple, because in larger organizations, the workflow of how content is published does not usually correspond to how the world consumes that information. So if you can’t create good content, then your “effective” user experience is for naught.

So instead of publishing to an area that you are responsible for maintaining, you simply publish for various categories (to seed the choice), you tag it and you tell it who your intended audience is from pre-loaded user-profiles. So you don’t publish to a part of the site, you publish to the TYPE of person you want to read the content.

The CMS will dynamically generate menus based on traffic patterns for each pre-determined user type.

It will guess at what a particular user is looking for based on what the user is looking at and how long they spend looking at it. That’s the first part. Second, is that each page must standalone. So you publish a page so it can be found using an onsite search engine. You can categorize and tag, as you may a blog entry. So instead of a site of pages linked together through a man-made and stagnant architecture, you effectively create a catalog of the content.

Imagine surfing a large site
(1,000+ pages) like you would looking for a book on Amazon.

You have recommendations based on previous experience, you have recommendations based on others experience, you have categories you can browse, and you have simple and advanced search functions for narrowing your results. If the content contains “web 2.0″ user-generated features such as comments, ratings, etc. then they can be integrated into the CMS as well, by helping rank search results, and offering new navigations methods.

So, any VC’s out there want to fund this project?

Bruce

Intranets, which are basically employee-only websites, can be a key utility in how today’s knowledge workers operate. Not very many companies use Intranets well. Some have integrated basic features and applications such as boardroom booking and connecting to HR tools (vacation requests, benefits, etc), fewer have forums and surveys for polling feedback, and fewer still have created venues for capturing corporate knowledge and project spaces where teams can collaborate together.

Enter Web 2.0.

One of the most amazing things that Web 2.0 technology has done is focus on user-centered design – making it easy for a lay-person to use technology effectively. There is now an incredible array of solutions available which are designed to be both versatile and easy to use.

Versatile? They are either open source and full of APIs to connect up to all sorts of other systems (single sign-on, user information, etc).

We’re heralding the age of corporate software productivity tools that are no longer restricted to desk-top applications. Seems obvious doesn’t it? If so, why can’t most organizations figure it out…

It’s fairly straightforward – you see the the architecture, models, and technology exist in the Web 2.0 space. Web 2.0 has created an “architecture of participation”, allowing individuals to both create and communicate with each other under an organizational umbrella. (ex. Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, Blogs, etc).

However most Web 2.0 has been externally focused. Most organizations are still trying to figure this piece out – how to engage with their external audiences in this new interconnected world.

Well, the the same problem exists internally for every organization – Web 2.0 defines the technology and capability of enhanced collaboration – but how to use it internally?

The foundation exists, so to build onto this architecture of participation requires a CULTURE of participation. This is the missing component. Business 2.0 has not yet quite caught up with Web 2.0.

Enhanced communication + productivity tools + social connection — requires —> a culture of participation

Web 2.0 is about being collaborative, consultative, and feedback driven. That is the kind of work environment business needs to evolve to. I wonder what this means to the traditional hierarchies, management layers, and divisional organizational charts that exist in every business today.

I always thought the term “divisions” was well used… divisive and separate – can org-charts dissolve? Horizontally across divisions or vertically down management layers? Or both?

I wonder what business 2.0 will look like…

Here is my third proposal that went in to speak at the Web 2.0 NY conference taking place in Sept-08.

What do you think? Which of the last three do you think will draw the most interest? (see the last two posts for the other proposals)

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What do a 19^th century Italian economist who accidentally defined a pseudo-law of nature, a post World War II American statistician who is responsible for today’s dominance by Japanese car manufacturers, and the 80’s poster boy for glam rock Boy George, have to do with Web 2.0?

Better yet, how can these diverse individuals help your organization leap frog the competition, create consistent and constant innovation, and drive your marketing so hard and fast that your operational people hate you?

So many questions! Come, listen, and participate. I may not have your answers, but I do have tools for you to use to come up with your own. Learn lessons exemplified by popular Web 2.0 successes (and failures).

Who should come: you are a bricks and mortar organization selling products on shelves, you are selling services at the boardroom table, you are a non-profit raising awareness, you are a pure Web company trying to manage its meteoric success, you are a corporation trying to find new ways to be nimble. Everyone can take something away and apply it immediately to their organization.

This talk can be personalized to use the audience to provide examples of how Web 2.0 success principles can be applied to your organization. If you’re interested in having me personalize the talk for your organization, please email me ahead of time with your organization’s background and I’ll see if I can fit you into the presentation. Take advantage, this is free consulting!

Tags: Business Strategy Innovation Audience Participation

Technical expertise: Low

Here is my second proposal that went in to speak at the Web 2.0 NY conference taking place in Sept-08.

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Total Mash-Up Web Design and Development

There is no point in starting from scratch anymore. This talk will show you how to create a web architecture for your organization that takes advantage of world-class applications. Mash and grind up together the best the web has to offer to create an enterprise class web presence so you can spend your budget on content and marketing instead of re-creating the wheel.

These websites:

• Are fully scalable; they will grow as your organization’s needs do.
• Are easy to administer – they are designed to be user friendly.
• Allow you total flexibility over design, layout, look and feel.
• Are Search engine friendly.
• Are primed for all sorts of marketing tactics.
• Can be constructed iteratively; get pieces up as you need them.
• Are cost-effective to build and design.
• And much much more!

Your project can range from a simple small business web page to major corporate rollouts supporting client log-in support, customer service ticketing systems, e-commerce, fund-raising, and many other applications.

Stretch your budget and impress your stakeholders – come and learn how to mash and grind at Web 2.0!

Just got back from the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco put on my CMP and O’Reilly Media. Great event, I learned a lot, provoked many more thoughts – in general I highly recommend it.

I do have one major gripe…

Very few presenters really brought their talks back to business fundamentals.

Mr Speaker: How do I use what you just talked about
to further my business goals (make money!)?

Nothing summarized this better then on the last day while attending a talk about how Web 2.0 ideas such as blogging, video and pod casting, user generated content, and other such attributes can be used in the SMB market. How do you, as a small business owner, actually USE this stuff yourself?

About half way through someone finally asked that “So, how do I use this for my business!?”

The loudest applause I had heard yet… FOR THE QUESTION!

And to my great and utter disappointment, it was not answered. Don’t get me wrong, the guys on the panel new their stuff, they were passionate, they GOT IT. But they couldn’t make it concrete. They couldn’t bring it back from esoteric philosophy to physical representation that a business owner could understand, and more importantly, APPLY.

To some extent this was true for almost all the talks.

So now that I’m done bitching, I’m going to do something about it. My next few posts are going to be best-of summaries of the ideas I learned and how to apply them for SMBs and the enterprise.

Stay tuned.