Just about every web user has experienced landing on a website that just looks old.  Normally a quick scroll to the bottom of the page confirms the site copyright is from 2007 or worse.  To today’s web surfer, this two to three year old site may as well be a hundred years old.

If you were having guests for dinner, would you serve them two year-old leftovers.  Obviously not.  Why then are so many websites serving up two year-old content?  Two of the biggest reasons are:  First, it used to be enough just to have a website and a static site was fine.  Second, adding content was difficult and could be expensive.

Content Management Systems to the Rescue
Because of the rapid increase in social media applications such as blogging and sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Myspace, website visitors expect something more than three year old content.  They expect to see fresh relevant content, to be able to create content and form communities.

Content Management Systems are the answer.  Previously the cost of a Content Management System (CMS) was prohibitive to the small business owner that wanted to establish a presence on the internet.  Now, however, CMS’s are available at little to no cost to provide a solution to the boring, static web 1.0 site.  Two of the best open-source platforms are Joomla and WordPress.

Six Ways to Web 2.0′ize a Website

1. Add a blog.  Blogs are one of the easiest ways to generate new, relevant content and establish the website owners expertise.  Furthermore, comments provide interactivity.
2. Convert the current static design into a Content Management System (CMS).  Converting to a CMS will make adding new content as easy as writing an email.
3. Web users today want to build communities and collaborate with other users.
4. Add Twitter and Facebook feeds. Social media is here to stay and is a great business tool. As was the case with websites several years ago, customers are beginning to expect that your web presence extend beyond your website. Twitter and Facebook are great ways to interact with your current and future customers.
5. Add a shopping cart. If you sell products that could be ordered online, but don’t offer this service, expect to see reduced revenue. Add a shopping cart and allow your customers to buy your products at exactly when they want too.
6. Add relevant content feeds from other sources. The web is now a huge content generating machine. So you don’t have to create all the content. Find reputable experts in your industry and feature their blog postings on your site.

Joomla vs WordPress – The Great Debate
Among the web development community the question of whether to use Joomla or WordPress can cause quite a stir.  A recent posting by Barrie North, one of the original Joomla programmers, recently posted five reasons why to use Joomla instead of WordPress.  In my opinion, Joomla is best for website development.  Extensions are plentiful, and some are outright amazing and best of all are very inexpensive.  And WordPress is best for blogging.  Clearly both platforms can do the job, but I chose to pick the best of both worlds and use them together.

Wayne Ergle owns onclickConnect.com which provides web design, search engine optimization, internet marketing and social media services to small businesses in the United States.