Is it a meaningless marketing buzzword? Or is it the new conventional wisdom? The term has become so widespread that some people use it, with no real understanding of just what it means. Perhaps that is because there isn’t an official definition for “Web 2.0” and it can mean radically different things to different people.

Here’s Wikipedia’s definition for the term: “Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services–such as social-networking sites, blogs, and social bookmarking— which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the web.”
So what does this mean? And what started the “Web 2.0” revolution?

The concept of “Web 2.0” was born during a conference in 2004 with O’Reilly Media and Media Live International. Dale Dougherty, web pioneer and O’Reilly VP, noted that the dot-com collapse in 2001, had marked a turning point for the web. There were more and more new and exciting applications and sites popping up every day, such as weblogs, social bookmarking, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds, social software, web application programming interfaces (API’s) and online web services (ie. eBay). Most of all, the way people were using the web had changed significantly. These websites take advantage of web application technologies and give web users the ability to collaborate and share their experiences, views, opinions and interests while they surf the web.
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In the competitive job market, where job security is more of a privilege than a guarantee, employees are increasingly turning to higher education in their quests to find professional stability. During the past three decades, participation in adult-centered educational programs has risen steadily, creating a competitive environment among today’s learning institutions. Whereas reputation had often been the key to an individual’s choice of schools, traditional universities are now facing the challenges created by adult-centered institutions.

Today’s traditional universities often find themselves over-subscribed and unable to accommodate the vastly growing number of traditional student applications. In addition, the high demand for adult-centered programs has pushed the traditional institutions to compete in the nontraditional marketplace. To meet this high demand and provide educational opportunities for both traditional and non-traditional students, universities are using various means of advertising to inform the public of the unique programs they (universities) have developed.
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In a day and age where ROI is becoming increasingly prevalent, finding ways to monitor campaign effectiveness at a more intricate level is crucial. Pay per call is one of those examples. There are several call tracking providers that offer this type of service, which allows companies to track phone leads real-time from specific advertising initiatives. By setting up a unique phone number(s) through one of these providers for each particular initiative (i.e. paid search, directory listings, etc.), a company is able to track real-time all inbound data – phone number, date and time of call, call duration, name, address, media source, and more. The calls will ring seamlessly into the customer’s business and allows users to view the detailed call reports online 24/7. Another unique feature is that most services also provide an audio recording of all inbound calls, which is especially helpful for companies that wish to monitor quality assurance and assist in customer acquisition and retention. Pay per call provides tangible evidence to substantiate the value of marketing initiatives and gets us closer to quantifying the effectiveness of our advertising dollars.

Pay per call has been especially interesting when it comes to search engine marketing. Previously, the emphasis has been on whether people make it to your web site, not what type of action they take once they get there. Pay per call provides an avenue to obtain more qualified leads. According to MediaPost Publications, “by allowing companies to track phone calls back to exact keywords, call tracking technology facilities a cost-per-lead model that delivers real-time leads to merchants in the form of a phone call, and creates a much more complete cost-per-lead analysis for online campaigns.”

Pay per call is an extremely valuable tool that helps companies make the most of their advertising dollars and I believe this is only the beginning of technological advances that will affect how companies track advertising campaigns and ROI in the future.