Web Trends for 2010
Written by Deb Dorchak - December 21, 2009 7 Comments
Right around this time of year I do my annual roundup of web design trends for the upcoming year. This year, I’m doing something a little different.
Design is fine, but what hasn’t been said already? The fine art of typography is still on the rise. Magazine layouts are starting to look more and more like magazines. Mixed media continues to evolve as people incorporate video, radio, and more interactivity.
What I’m going to look at instead is the web in general and how we’ve been using it to help our businesses grow.
The Writing on the Wall
“I need a pen.”
“A pen?” I asked.
“A pen and my journal.” Wendi said as we neared the end of one of our weekly phone calls.
“For what?”
“I need to do some real writing. By hand.”
Does this sound familiar? How long has it been since you’ve written anything by hand? If you’re like me, you probably don’t recognize your own handwriting anymore because it’s been neglected for so long. Makes me wonder if anyone bothers physically writing at all these days.
Even when I get Christmas cards or any kind of snail mail from friends and family, it’s all printed out on a computer. Ok, maybe not all. Allison always includes a handwritten note when she sends me cookies, and Wendi does the same when we exchange books.
There’s something special about receiving a handwritten note or letter. It tells me the sender took some time to add a personal touch and some thought to what they were sending.
Handwriting also tells a lot about a person. As with speaking on the phone or face to face, you get a sense of tone and personality that you can’t get through typed text. There’s a warmth to it.
Getting Personal
Now, although I don’t see small businesses in the upcoming year totally abandoning email, I do feel there’s going to be a shift towards more personal ways of communicating.
For the last several years we’ve all been chained to our computers. We’ve made friends we’ve never met face to face, yet we talk to them more often than we do our own families at times. We do business unseen, something that a little over twenty or thirty years ago would have made many nervous.
We brand ourselves with our own online personalities, for better or worse. We get caught up in the illusion of faux fame, and it’s so easy to think the whole world should recognize your merits on your name alone.
No, I’m not referring to any one person or situation. We’ve all seen how internet fame works with everything from the Star Wars Kid to the mom who gained enormous fame from writing a humorous eBay auction to sell a set of Pokeman cards her kid swiped on their way out of the checkout counter.
The ‘net is not the be all and end all source for clientele.
Did you know there’s actually a real world out there? There are shops and local business owners, people who may still need your services, all the while not realizing those services are right in their own back yard.
How many local businesses have you checked out? Have you gone to any of these local businesses and seen if they have a website of their own? Could they use a designer for *gasp* print ads, signage, business cards, or brochures? Maybe they already have a brochure, but their copy is horrible?
Get out there and look around. See what’s right in your backyard. There’s a whole market out there just waiting for you to discover.
The Art of Conversation
Some of my best clients were gained through simple conversation. No hard sale. In fact, business was never mentioned until late in the conversation.
When you take the time to get to know a person first and get them talking about themselves, a wonderful thing happens – they relax. And so do you. Before you know it, you’ve reached common ground and hey, look at that! They do need your services after all!
Without the pressure, everything flows and BAM, you have yourself another client.
I’m sure there are many people who are tired of long sales pages, obnoxious infomercials, everyone telling them what they need, how it will improve their lives and make them better people. In my opinion, it’s all junk. Just stuff that will sit in the closet collecting dust. Find out what people really need.
And the only way you’re going to do that is by getting to know them first.
What Does This All Mean For 2010?
It means going back to our roots. It means building real relationships with real people in a real world. After all this time we’re still “playing” with the internet. I think in 2010 the web is going to take on more maturity. People are really going to see how to incorporate the old-school methods of personal introduction with the technology we have now to take business on the internet to the next level.
If you haven’t set any goals yet for your online business, try this: Make a point to go out into your community and introduce yourself to the local vendors. Don’t go with making a sale in mind, just go and talk. I’ll bet you walk out of there with with a new client in your pocket.
Read the Comments
7 Outstanding Responses to "Web Trends for 2010"
Maree on December 21, 2009 at 12:33 am | Permalink
I recently read a comment on the internet that “It make no sense to have a physical business card for an online business”. I’d never considered before that there were some people with web businesses who never tried to do offline networking for their businesses.
I think you’ve done a good job here of pointing out some of the ways in which offline marketing and networking can be used to strengthen an online business and I hope your prediction for the coming year is an accurate one.
Deb Dorchak on December 21, 2009 at 12:40 am | Permalink
No sense to have a business card? Who said that? Let me smack them. Sheesh. Of course you need a business card! Unless you’re going to write your website URL on a cocktail napkin or on someone’s hand, they’re certainly not going to remember it.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve been out and about and was grateful to have a business card handy. Business can happen anywhere, the grocery store, the laundromat, your daily walk around the block…like my Mom always says “Be prepared.”
Or was that the Boy Scouts? Oh, no, Mom used to say “Never go out without your makeup on; you never know when you’re going to be discovered.”
So, consider your business card your “makeup”. Personally, I don’t wear makeup, but I always make sure I have some cards on me.
Karen Swim on December 21, 2009 at 5:57 am | Permalink
Deb, I always think it’s funny when “online” marketers ignore the offline world. There are actually more people offline than on. Only a small percentage of consumers use social media or read blogs. As such they will never see your site or sign up for your newsletter. I believe that competitive pressures will help businesses realize that while online marketing is important a world exists beyond the screen.
Karen Swim’s last blog post… Why You Should Learn to Fight Fair
Deb Dorchak on December 21, 2009 at 7:33 am | Permalink
@Karen: I agree. Working at a computer day in and day out it’s easy to believe that this is “The World” and that everyone knows what’s going on in your World. There are many people out there who have no idea what Twitter is, or for that matter, what a blog is. In fact, my roomie is no stranger to the internet, yet he still asks me from time to time to remind him what a blog is again.
There’s a balance to be struck between both worlds and I think in the upcoming year it’s worth exploring.
Rose on December 21, 2009 at 7:46 am | Permalink
Wait, conversations? As in . . . by mouth? Didn’t that go out of style back in ’06?
I like this trend, Deb. There’s a lot of stigma associated with the internet; people think online businesses aren’t legitimate because of how hard it is to keep people accountable.
But if more net-based businesses promote open communication and honesty along with top-notch services, maybe we can give those of us who work online a more positive reputation. It just takes.one positive interaction to convert a person, right?
Deb Dorchak on December 21, 2009 at 8:10 am | Permalink
@Rose: All it takes is one.
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