As he explains information architecture to WebProNews, he said that many people tend to make it company-focused when it should actually be visitor-focused. Because it is such a passionate area, he also points out that companies should expect to fight about it.

“Information architecture is not new. It’s not new at all. It’s just that nobody’s ever bothered to do it right,” Ulle points out.

When it is done right, the keywords and content will start to flow and the overall website will become more effective.

Ulle also talks about HTML and, specifically, the advent of HTML5. He is very excited about it and believes that it will be very fast. HTML5 is also going to bring in many standards for coding. For instance, the World Wide Web Consortium, W3C, is going to issue a standard way to handle errors in code. Javascript and APIs will be standardized as well.

“The technology that allows you to connect with people in your marketplace should become invisible,” Ulle said.

He believes these standards will allow companies to better reach their audience.

Ulle goes on to talk about social media and how it actually dates back to the 1700′s. When newspapers were printed at that time, blank spaces and pages were inserted to allow people to write down their thoughts before they passed them on to someone else.

Although the techniques for social media are evolving, Ulle said the principle was and always will be the same. He also said that social media and SEO are directly related and that they both require engagement. In the future, it wouldn’t surprise him if the two were united and called something such as integrated media marketing (IMM).

Do you believe SEO and Social Media will eventually unify?

What’s our point of entry? Can we fund bloggers to spread the gospel of our products and services? Is this even ethical?

“Everybody’s trying to figure out this concept of ‘incentivized’ word-of-mouth marketing and (I think) the issue is about transparency…” With scandals such as the WalMart blogging fiasco, Key believes this the chief problem.

Reputation seems to be preserved through disclosing sponsors, preserving trust for both blogger and business. Yet Beal warns of alternate issues.

“One of the disturbing things that I’ve seen is a complete overreaction by a lot of bloggers to the point where they’re being too aggressive in disclosing… I’ve seen bloggers write positive things about a company… [and feel] like they need to put a disclaimer [on their blog] to say… ‘Hey we weren’t paid to write this. We just like it!’ That’s not the path that we should go down.”

Even if these risks seem too shaky to bear participation, good business still follows trend.

Said Beal, “Companies tend to be late in their reaction. They don’t pay any attention until it actually affects them. The conversations are going on… you can either put your hands over your ears or you can listen and potentially engage… A company should be aware… even if they’re not ready to pull the trigger and jump into the mix.”

Social media brings us ever closer to our customers and seems to empower nearly anyone to make or break our business. Yet, if we can’t recognize its benefit and everyone’s gain, then we’re lost.