As another year commences, so the web approaches its twelfth year of existence.  Following a quick glance at our crystal ball we are predicting the following.

 

1.   Businesses and other organisations will come to realise what web users have known for years – that the single biggest reason people come to your site is to read and be educated, not wowed with graphics.  As a result of this, content creation will be driven by senior, not junior resources.  Some businesses will go as far as appointing a website editor, who has the same absolute authority over the content of a website as a newspaper editor has over what goes in their paper.

 

2.   People will visit fewer and fewer websites and become more and more conventional in their online behaviour.  Impatience will result in exceptional brand loyalty to online brands and online resources which help people’s lives.  Amazon.co.uk, Tesco.com, BBC.co.uk will continue to dominate web traffic reviews in their various sectors.

 

3.   Businesses will focus ruthlessly on giving their online users what they want when they want it, through a standardised, accessible interface design, which focuses on helping the user.

 

4.   Locally operated SMEs who market online via email and search engines, and who sell niche product globally, will continue to gain real credibility and value in 2005.

 

5.   As senior management mindset shifts, they will begin to see the web as a publishing medium, not an IT challenge.  Resource employed to realise publishing opportunities will therefore no longer be based within IT departments.

 

6.   As bargain bucket hosting, domain name and connectivity providers remove themselves further from their customers using technology, so a new breed of business driven hosting and broadband services will be provided.  Business benefits and personal contact will be the drivers for these services, rather than lowest cost.

 

7.   As Google tightens its stranglehold over its competitors so optimized positioning on search engines will become more and more elusive.  Ad Words, Overture and other pay per click products will grow in popularity, but also in cost.

 

8.   Until strong international legislation deals with it, and case law is available throughout the globe to deter spammers, we are going to have to put up with mortgage offers, Rolex sales and opportunities to expand our … horizons, in our email boxes every morning.

 

9.   The Disability Discrimination Act of 1 October 2004 impacted strongly how businesses must now design their websites, but this is merely the start of a range of legislation which will unambiguously define online privacy, data protection, hacking, spam and other key issues.

 

10.   Organisations are now very sensibly and confidently embarking on internet projects to deliver products and services to their clients, and open up new sales and delivery channels.  The first shoots of rebirth in late 2003 and throughout 2004 will grow at an accelerated pace in 2005.

Happy New Year!