On August 6th 2011, we celebrated twenty years of the Internet as we know it. Of course, it’s not really as we know it. The original website was truly utilitarian by modern standards – a simple page of black text on a white background and a few links taking you to similar pages. A handful of pages existed back then; and were originally intended to share information between universities – lab results, test data and research. The original World Wide Web still exists today, but back then this crucial event in the worlds recent history was not really regarded as anything significant.
Info.cern.ch was the address of the worlds first-ever website and Tim Berners-Lee is widely regarded as the inventor of the Internet as we know it today. The significance of the website itself was minimal at the time – only Tim and his team had browsers capable of displaying the pages. Development of the Internet continued until 1993 when proliferation of the Internet truly started. It was that year that the Mosaic browser was released and the World Wide Web started to achieve momentum.
The following year saw the introduction of the World Wide Web Consortium or W3C as it is often referred. This organization, founded at MIT was setup to develop web standards, browser compatibility, and to ensure that websites would all work in a similar fashion. While its influence in the development of websites across the world is debatable, W3C has achieved widespread support among professionals in the web community to help maintain standards for all and support inclusion; functionality for the disabled.
Up until the release of the Mosaic browser most of the general public were unaware that the Internet even existed. At this stage the terms Internet and World Wide Web weren’t considered as synonymous as they are today. Google, Yahoo, Bing were all in the distant future and Google had not yet become a verb.
In todays world, Google and its trailing competitors are the Internet – no longer are there just a handful of websites out there – businesses are competing for revenue on line as they once did in the mall. Old business models have come and gone. Reaching for the phone book is a distant memory; younger demographics don’t even possess a phone book any more – I use mine occasionally to stand on to reach something up high, but as for its original purpose? I turn to the Internet – its fast, convenient and I can read reviews on companies before I pick up the phone to call.
So what has the development of a world class search engine done to help businesses grow and be found? What it means for todays business is an investment in marketing that, to many, is not as clear cut as it once was. In the past, advertising and marketing to many, meant, phone book, local newspaper and radio and/or TV advertising. There was a perception that the results of this marketing were tangible – easy to read. Of course, in many cases they were; the phone rang, the tills dinged and money came through the doors.
These days there are still hard core businesses that have shied away and failed to embrace the web. They might have websites; but don’t feel that they bring in any significant business. The truth is the results of web marketing is more tangible than ever and certainly much more accessible than the analytics of Arbitron, Nielsen and similar ratings companies when applied to traditional media; radio, TV and print.
The intelligent client of 2011, one willing and able to embrace change has a whole plethora of tools at their fingertips to enable them to make smart marketing decisions, ones which, with the right marketing firm can contribute significantly to the bottom line.
One thing is clear – in the last twenty years, the Internet has made an impact. It has ascended from the primitive depths of basic data sharing into a flourishing, constantly evolving organism, adapting and expanding. I know I am on board. Are you?
Tags: blush marketing, CERN, Google, marketing firm black hills, marketing firm rapid city, marketing in rapid city, Mosaic, Tim Berners-Lee, World Wide Web, World Wide Web Consortium
