In 1971 when The Who released their rock anthem “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” the world was at a tipping point. The cultural revolution of the 1960s, a decade starting in black-and-white and ending in color, spawned a technology renaissance in the 1970s.
And just like yesterday, the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked another technology revolution. But it’s not a smile and grin at the change all around. Just when we think we are out of the Coronavirus woods, a new variant emerges, and the world looks just the same.
In a COVID-19 world, are your online properties ready so that you don’t get fooled again?
First, let’s take a trip down memory lane. Here are a few tech highlights from 1971 that spurred us on toward this period of innovation.
Meet the New Boss – The Integrated CPU
Intel and Texas Instruments introduced the integrated CPU (central processing unit), the first step in our journey from analog to digital. The CPU optimized computer power once requiring a bank of machines down to a single circuit that fits in the palm of your hand.
Today, CPUs are at the heart of almost every digital device, from your home PC, smartphone, even your coffee maker.
Tip Your Hat to the New Constitution of Communication – Email
Sometime in late 1971, Ray Tomlinson sent the first email. From its humble beginning to over a hundred billion emails each day, communications between humans entered a more efficient digital age.
While there is a dark side to email in the form of scams and spam, there’s no denying it redefined how we communicate.
Take a Bow for the New Revolution – Music Moves Toward Digital
The iconic intro to “Won’t Get Fooled Again” used an electronic synthesizer. The Who was one of the first major recording artists to use this tech.
Digital has seeped into all aspects of the music business, reducing cost, lowering barriers for aspiring musicians, and creating a more user-driven experience. It made tectonic shifts in the music industry, and when the smoke cleared, it was a more level playing field.
These were just the tip of the tech iceberg. The tech hits kept rolling all through the 70s.
The response to COVID-19 brings a new tech revolution.
Pandemic lockdowns caused a population explosion in the already expanding virtual world. A study by the Pew Research Center shows that during the pandemic 90% of Americans say the internet has been essentials or important to them. The change, it had to come. We knew it all along.
Here are some areas we saw shifts due to online user habits from quarantined web users.
- New tech emerged to handle the Internet sprawl and work from home (WFM)
- Better data analytics to hand the explosion of data from increased online usage
- Changes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) algorithms
- Reaffirmed that content is king – not just text, but images, too.
- Emphasis on the user experience, especially on mobile devices.
As quarantines and lockdowns receded, online usage continued to thrive. Before COVID, few had used Zoom, let alone even heard of it. Now, it’s a household name reaching “verb” status where it’s common to hear things like “I’ll zoom you.”
In a COVID-19 world, your website is the home base for your brand. The internet is the primary way to communicate your mission and connect with your community.
Is your online identity ready for the change all around? Here are ways to get liberated from the fold.
Meet the New Tech
Have you checked out recent online trends? Have you revisited tech that you once considered unaffordable? As new technology emerges and becomes more affordable, is your website ready to attract this growing audience?
Here’s are some tech upgrades to consider.
- Online Payment or Donations
- eCommerce
- Memberships to private areas of your website
- Chatbots
- Automation
- Integration to other business systems
- Online Classes
And the Slogans are Replaced…with a Fresh Message
Fresh content for your website has always been key for SEO. Search engines will love and reward you for updating your website often with high-quality content. And people will, too.
The COVID traffic surges increased the number of people visiting and revisiting. If you don’t update your site, it can send the message you don’t care, or even be out of business.
Here are some content considerations for your website.
- Blogging is back (it never left)
- Is the description of your organization you pasted on your website years ago still relevant?
- When’s the last time you updated images?
- Do you regularly add website content?
- Are social media outlets in sync with your website?
- It’s time to revisit videos
- Why you should do a podcast
A New User Experience for The Change All Around
Home Depot revenues skyrocketed in 2020. The Atlanta-based DIY juggernaut attributes record-breaking profits to increase demand for materials and equipment for home projects born as the multitudes sheltered in place. The more time people spent at home during the pandemic, the more they noticed projects around the house.
Likewise, online properties experienced a brighter spotlight as people spent more time on the web while practicing pandemic protocols. It’s time to view your website with a fresh set of eyes and address those issues and updates you’ve been meaning to do.
Here are ways to take a fresh look at your online identity.
- Revisit your website on mobile devices. Is the mobile and web interface clean?
- Is your message unmistakable? If it takes a user longer than a few seconds to determine what you do or who you are, you’ve lost them.
- What is the call-to-action, and is it easy to respond?
- Consider the compelling factor. What have you offered to get someone to respond to your call-to-action
- When’s the last time you reviewed website analytics to see what is working and what’s not. You’ll be surprised!
- Can your website keep up, or is it just too slow for a more crowded information superhighway?
Websites and organizations surviving the consequences of COVID did so because they were ready. Many had eCommerce in place. Others had a website on a flexible platform such as WordPress that allows modifications and renovations without breaking the bank.
Is your website ready?
Is your social media relevant?
It’s not too later to not get fooled again.
At TecAdvocates, we can help. Contact us TODAY for a FREE review of your website, social media, and other online resources.
It’s obvious that the lyrics to “Won’t Get Fooled Again” are interlaced throughout this post. But the track was not intended to be a single, but part of an entirely different project.
Following the success of Tommy, the band’s 1969 double concept album that sent The Who into rock history, Townshend started work on a new conceptual project called Lifehouse. It is set in the near future in a society where music is banned and most of the population live in government-controlled experience suits connected through a grid.
Sounds like Pete foresaw the internet and virtual reality.
Here’s more on the Who’s Lifehouse project that never got of the ground. But it did give us one of rock’s more iconic songs.