What is Web 2.0?

It is the next phase of the world wide web.

In the beginning, there was HTML.

In the mid-nineties, Tim Berners-Lee crafted a new markup language by extracting a subset from an older markup language and boom! The Web was born.

Web technology continued to improve over the next decade, producing a whole slew of applications with each having their own set of bells and whistles. Then in 2004, ten years after the birth of the web, another Tim, Tim O'Reilly, declared the birth of Web 2.0.

With all the new technologies and seemingly endless array of options facing web users, Web 2.0 in many ways goes back to the basics in terms of usability and scalability.

In Web 2.0, no longer do you have to handcraft each web page, or know a programming language to have a web site, you do not even need a web guru to run your web site. In Web 2.0, you enter the world of content management systems(CMS), search engine optimization (SEO), web services such as RSS and Amazon, web automation such as Google sitemaps, and countless other improvements.

What does this mean for web site owners?

• It means that you no longer hire a web designer to create your web pages , you hire them to create the content management system you use to create, manage and publish them yourself.
• This means you no longer use static entry pages or opening animation because such techniques work against your placement within search engine rankings.
• It means you no longer have to rely solely on link exchanges to drive traffic to your web site, your web site can now travel to the people who share your interest via news feeds.
• And because of automation, you can create a page today, and have it publish itself in two weeks, and automatically have today's hot topic disappear while you sleep.

  Step up to Web 2.0! It is a whole new world out there ... all over again!