What the Heck is Web 2.0 And Why Do I Care?

If you’ve hung around on the web, you’ve probably heard the term “web 2.0″… you may have even spent a few seconds wondering what the heck it was and whether or not it was something you would need to understand in order to market yourself online.   I’ve brought you some good news.  If you’re here reading and especially if you’re here writing a comment (no pressure *grin*), then you are firmly in the Web 2.0 camp.  That’s right!  You already live there and you may not even know it.

Web 2.0 is defined in Wikipedia as “commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web.”  As a friend of mine would say with more than a hint of sarcasm, “There’s an awful lot of big words in there, but what the H-E-Double-L does it mean?”

It means… Blogs.  Video sites like YouTube.  Facebook, Myspace, Twitter… all the websites that facilitate a two-way conversation between you and your target audience.

In years past, marketing was often considered a one-way conversation.  It was the company or person selling themselves or their products to the buyer… It was all about their words getting you to act.   Whether that was from a banner ad that convinced you to click or a magazine ad that convinced you to go to the store and check something out. Perhaps a television commercial.  Those were one-way conversations, and in a very simplistic way, that was also what web 1.0 was about.  Advertising.  Static web pages providing company-created content. Companies selling themselves.

Web 2.0 is more about you, the buyer, than it is about the seller.   It is a collaboration of efforts from you, from reviewers, from those on facebook, myspace, twitter, etc who make comments, discuss your work, and share their thoughts.  So how do you build a web 2.0 platform?  How do you try to establish a base for the conversations about you?

1. Understand how connected the internet is these days, with blog comments, site interactivity and more.  Anytime you write a comment under your own name on a blog or website, it will show up in a search result somewhere.  It’s a double-edged sword. If you are keeping up with writing related blogs and sites, use your actual name to comment. It will help build up the google results to something related to your writing.  If you are keeping up with hobby site that you don’t want connected to your writing personality, choose a different user name.

2.  Google yourself. You need to know what’s out there about you and specifically about you as a writer.  This is important no matter where you are in the scheme of your career — prepublished, a book or two or twenty under your belt.  Googling someone is the quickest way to find out more information about you.   I recently heard from a collegue that an agent told a hopeful writer that they weren’t “google-ready” — as in they had been googled and nothing came up.  She told the writer that editors will google someone they are interested in.  What percentage of that is truth, or how many editors that is true for, I have no idea…but even if one or two editors are starting that as a process to search for new authors, it’s worth considering.  When it comes to marketing a book in this Web 2.0 environment, the conversation has to be two-sided.  That means from you to the reader, and from the reader to you.  A publishing house needs to know you are capable of meeting your end of the bargain.

3.  Have a professional, basic website. This is usually a given, but it still needs to be stated.  Above all, before anything else, you need to have a website that is easy to navigate, graphically pleasing and offers information about you as a writer.

4. Make profiles for yourself under your writing name, on websites such as facebook, myspace, goodreads, libraryThing, LinkedIn, Twitter and others. Fill out the basic profile information, put in a couple of hours to complete the profiles.  You are preserving your name and establishing a link of sites that you can use when you are ready to fully market your books.

5. Blog somewhere. If you feel confident that you can keep up the content and make it worthwhile on a regular basis on your own website, keep your own blog.  Otherwise find a group blog to be a part of.  Start contacting blogs about doing guest spots and begin to get your name out there. At the very least, choose a few blogs you enjoy reading and become community members — that means leave comments.  Participate in the discussions on a regular basis.  Believe me, people take notice as to who is commenting.

A friend of mine, Sarah Simas, started a blog for novice writers called The Lovestruck Novice.  She does interviews with authors, chats about her experiences and those of others along the path to publication.  Sarah is a pre-published aspiring Author-To-Be (I have total faith) and yet before she’s even got a book out, she’s building a name for herself.  Because of her blog and her willingness to approach authors and others, she’s also become a regular on another group blog I’m part of, MamaWriters.  Sarah is building her platform now, so when the time comes that an agent or editor is ready to give her a serious look, she is Google-Ready. If you google “Sarah Simas”, the entire first page is book and writing related.  Sarah provides a terrific example of Building a Platform.

The most important point to realize is that web 2.0 concepts are here to stay.  Not only that, but they are becoming the way businesses market themselves, reach consumers and focus on their target audience.  The alternative is NOT doing any of this, which takes the control out of your hands.   And when there is so many steps to getting published, becoming a successful author, this is one step you can absolutely direct, change and manage.  YOU have the power to build your platform as a writer, no matter where you in your career.