Segala 2.0 is in permanent beta

For me, Web 2.0 can be defined by a technology, a colour pallet, logo, social network, or a service that is enabled by a Web site. However, what’s more important in my opinion, is the fact that Web 2.0 defines a moment in time when we recognise the survival instinct to place our products and services into “permanent beta”.

Permanent beta can be described as ‘constantly evolving a product or service based on consumer feedback’. It’s more of a mental state, or attitude that can be applied by an organisation which recognises the need to put the consumer at the heart of everything it does. In other words, we need to constantly modify our products and services based on consumer feedback. The alternative is to appear arrogant at best, or fall behind and loose out to competitors at worst.

Web 2.0 is also a point in time when we recognise the need to place more trust in the hands of the consumer. The marketing of our products is no longer entirely in our control. It’s now in the hands of the consumer. The Web is becoming more interactive, with communities, social networks and blogs springing up every day. The digital age we now live in enables everyday Web surfers to influence consumer choice.

I’d like to think Segala adopts all of these Web 2.0 principles, quite literally. We have just launched this brand spanking new Web site based on Wordpress, allowing visitors (you) to express an opinion on almost every Web page, not just on blog posts. I say almost, because one or two pages wouldn’t look great with comment fields. Admittedly, the Web 2.0 colours and iconography to give it a fresh look ‘n feel has been, to a certain degree, done tongue in cheek.

My secondary motivation for writing this post is to express how we’re modifying our products based on consumer feedback. In October 2006 we launched a Segala Certified Partner Programme. The programme is aimed at agencies and freelance developers that design build or test Web sites. In summary, we provide them with marketing materials and tools that help them sell and deliver accessibility services. We also enable them to award clients with the Segala Trustmark (including Content Label) for accessibility.

We didn’t do any PR or marketing surrounding the programme launch as we wanted some very well established companies on board to act as a reference before scaling up worldwide. I predicted 19 partners by end of 2006 with revenue starting to come in at the end of April 2007.

By Christmas 2006 the partner network was up to 26 and spanned 5 countries - Ireland, UK, Hungary, Canada and Australia. Everyone we spoke to said that this was exactly what they needed to help sell accessibility to clients more easily. Their clients are saying it’s exactly what they need to help them demonstrate their commitment and conformance to accessibility standards more easily.

Membership was free, so there was no barrier to becoming a certified partner. Since putting a price tag of £247 / €370 / $480 on membership, we’ve only had one company join the programme.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that the price is a prohibiting factor. We only accepted payment via PayPal as our new shopping basket is still in development. So, this could have been a prohibiting factor for some people (but not for all surely).

If I’m honest, we only charged because we wanted to place some value on membership. So, in Web 2.0 style, I would like to admit that we got it wrong about the price points of our product. So, as of today, membership to the partner programme will be free.

If you’re wondering, we make our money from each certificate sold by a partner.