2022 and Beyond: A Peek into Our Online Future

See my predictions for site owners as we navigate through the online revolution of transitioning from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0. 

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About My Predictions

Every prediction I have made for the last 8 years has come true.

And I made most of them 3 years prior to them becoming the norm. 

Early adopters have both made and saved boatloads of money because they followed my advice.

Listening to the predictions is one part.

Taking action is the other.

You won’t be successful through this huge Web 3.0 transition we’re in as a tip collector.

Be ready to take action, starting with a change to your current mindset.

The Web is Evolving

Let me give you some perspective on where my predictions come from. 

They are from me being inside the industry, from the foundation out to what you see.

I was an electronics engineer when Web 1.0 caught on with the general public in the 80s. Some of the things I repaired were computer mainframes, and then desktops when they became widely available for business, and eventually PCs when they hit the public market.

Web 1.0 was read only. We could not engage with the content. We could only see it.

When Web 2.0 hit in the 90s, I saw what was coming and I jumped all in with one of the first AOL accounts and I got on Twitter early, as well as every other social media account.

Web 2.0 was all about user-generated content that we could interact with, and we could chat about collectively.

By then I was already building websites from scratch and I eventually migrated to WordPress. I ran 2 businesses on the side – one for building sites and teaching how to do it, and then I opened BlogAid for the growing interest in “I have a site, now what?”

I eventually dropped the coding business and focused solely on BlogAid as it transitioned from site content and social media coverage to a teaching business with a focus squarely on how to use WordPress. That business made it possible for me to quit my day job and work full-time as a site tech and instructor of all things site-success related that bloggers have to know to get an edge on their competition and make real money online.

And now, Web 3.0 is being built. 

I see what’s coming.

And I plan to continue being an early adopter and making a living with it, and helping you transition to making your living with it too.

How We’ll Move from Web 2.5 to Web 3.0

We are currently in a hybrid period called Web 2.5 where we have tech and apps that mostly still run on the centralized Web 2.0 framework. And it’s all delivered on devices with screens.

Centralized platforms like Google, Facebook, and others capitalize on all of our user-generated content and control what of it we see. And they are making a lot more money from it than we, the creators of that content are making.

That’s going to change with Web 3.0.

We are now moving into a screenless version of the web that runs on a decentralized framework where big tech doesn’t own our info or the data we create.

Our online evolution from Web 2.5 to Web 3.0 will be roughly in this order:

• Video
• E-comm
• Augmented and Virtual Reality
• Wearable technology
• Blockchain sites
• NFTs as utulity
• Metaverse
• Full Web 3.0

How you get eyeballs on your content is changing.

How you get paid for generating that content is changing.

But the most important aspect of all of this is how you build culture and tribe is changing.

And that is the mindset switch I hope this peek into our future helps you make.

The Tech is Already Here

Augmented Reality (AR) is with us now, especially for E-comm. You can go to a furniture website on your phone and see how that piece will look in your own living room.

But we’re ready to take the next step with moving away from smartphones and into wearable tech that’s already here too.

In fact, I believe that smartphones as we know them will be a thing of the past. 

Very few folks use their phone as a phone now.

They mostly use it as an internet connection to run apps on a screen.

That computing power will move to a wrist band of some sort that projects the apps onto any surface, like your forearm, the wall, or even just into the air. It will also power smart glasses so you see an augmented world. 

All of this tech already exists, it’s just a matter of adoption. And that will rely on more apps and sites to be built for it. More on that in a moment.

Virtual Reality (VR) is catching on quickly, especially in the gaming world that has been responsible for so much of the tech innovation we’ve enjoyed for the last 4 decades. 

While the first desktops and software were created for the needs of business, it’s the trillions of dollars in the gaming industry that drove the innovation and development to make more powerful computers that all of us are using right this minute.

And now the rest of the VR tech is becoming widely available through headsets and body suits that allow you to move around and touch objects. The end of couch potato gaming is near.

And that will trickle down to the non-gamers among us in the form of metaverses where we can go shopping in virtual stores and handle objects and chat with the shop owner or take an interactive class with them.

The Money and the Devs are Already in Web 3.0

If you want a real wake up call of how fast we are moving from Web 2.5, which is where we are now, into Web 3.0, just follow the money and the people chasing after the money.

CEOs and heads of development of major tech companies resigned in record numbers in 2021 to join or create Web 3.0 startups.

Web-related developers, designers, marketers, and community managers are either leaving their current jobs or have a Web 3.0 side hustle to work on building blockchains, or the apps that run on them, or the infrastructure that powers it all. In fact, Web 3.0 job boards have exploded, including on things like LinkedIn. But Web 2.0 sites are not where you can find the best jobs. They are on DOAs. More on that in a moment.

Other Web 2 visionary business owners are seeing the light too.

I’m not going to call names here, but the gentlemen who runs the biggest company that caters to social media marketing professionals reached out to me recently to ask for my recommendations of Web 3.0 business folks to hire. He sees the writing on the wall just like I do.

Trillions of dollars are being moved into the Web 3.0 sector and more is pouring in every day.

Even Apple, Microsoft, and Google are making super heavy investments, including undermining their current Web 2.0 projects and tech, like their smartphones.

This is Why We Have Gutenberg

I was in attendance at WordCamp 2018, just days after WordPress 5.0 launched with the Gutenberg editor.

And I remember when one of my favorite coders, builders, and visionaries, Morten Rand-Hendriksen shared his peek into the future and the role that Gutenberg played in it.

His speech is why I became a Gutenberg enthusiast, even if it was released before it was ready to be used on production sites.

That future Morten mentioned is what we are moving into right now and why we need Gutenberg.

Everything about your site needs to be in mutable blocks. We already have a mature block editor. That was Phase 1 of Gutenberg. 

With the release of WordPress 5.9 in Jan 2022, we will have the core code to support Full Site Editing, meaning that every part of your site will be in blocks.

Mutable blocks can adapt to any display format, including what’s coming in AR with wearable tech.

WordPress had to make this move. And it’s actually not the leader in this area anymore. 

In the next 5 years, we may or may not be using WordPress unless they can catch up to where other Web 3.0 creations already are. Right now you still need a dev to create those, just like you did in the early days of our current websites before WordPress and such things came along. 

But mark my words, it won’t take long for nice user interfaces to start popping up for Web 3 sites. I would guess maybe 2 years, at the most.

And I’ll be there when they do.

In the meantime, if you’re not already using Gutenberg, my Gutenberg Ninja course will help you adapt the fun and fast way.

How You Make the Move to Web 3.0

So, how do you, as a blogger, move into this new, wonderful world of Web 3.0?

This evolution is as much about emerging culture as it is about the underlying tech.

In fact, I predict that those who create the best culture will be the big winners in all sectors.

Let me draw you a map of what I see so you can plan your own journey.

Personal Connections are the Key

Why do you think TikTok is the leading social platform, and why is every other platform trying to compete with them?

In a word – video.

Here’s why video works:

• The masses crave edutainment from a real person.
• They want to be informed and entertained.
• Plus, they want to see and engage with other people – not just with words and images.
• They also want the short version of the story so they can evaluate their interest level before they commit any real time to it.

A New Way to Sell What You Know Directly 

In Web3 you will become the blockchain owner of the content you create and profit from it directly.

This, compared to churning out content on a platform that a centralized organization owns and profits from the data they collect on us and our audience. That includes your social media, but also your site if you run ads and such.

The most impactful Web2 to Web3 transition that exists for us right now is video. 

This is how you can get paid directly today.

Right this minute, video platforms like TikTok, IG Reels, and YouTube Shorts are: 

• paying creators for generating content
• making a way for brands and influencers to hook up for sponsored videos
• making a way for fans to pay you directly for your content

Fans will pay to hear from you. And they’ll pay even more to engage with you directly.

I see it on TikTok every single day.

This is in stark contrast to you being the product on a platform where you share your written content and images – like it is now with Facebook and Pinterest. They are profiting off your free content and who it attracts. Same with Google. They don’t create any of the content they show in search results.

The new Web3 economy is also different from running ads and selling downloadables where you split the revenue with the ad agency or storefront provider.

Personal Reviews Matter

We’re moving from raw data into personalized data. 

Instead of generic reviews from a corporation, folks want to hear from real people before they shell out money for the thing they want to buy.

All through 2021 Google has been killing off junk review sites from search.

And with their December Product Review Guidelines update, they made it clear that they want real people who use a product to do a review of it.

And guess what type of content is going to get the most play in Google Search?

Video.

READ: the Dec 7 Tips Tuesday for details on steps to take to get your reviews to the top of search.

Get Off the Blogging Hamster Wheel

Way too many bloggers are in the mindset that being on the hamster wheel of blog content creation is the only way to make money.

The Pinterest Bubble has Already Popped

That’s because they have been relying on Pinterest to bring them eyeballs to generate revenue solely with ads that those visitors see.

You know what? 

The Pinterest bubble has already popped. You need a new way to get eyeballs.

The Google Bubble is Popping

Guess what else?

The Google bubble is popping too. It’s becoming harder to get your blog post on the first page of Google. 

For one, Google is featuring more videos.

Plus, Google will be indexing fewer posts now too. Only the cream of the crop will be indexed. And we’ll be discussing this in my DIY SEO course as one of our first live Workshops.

The Ads Bubble is Popping

The ads bubble is about to pop. By 2023 it will be a ghost shell of what it is now.

You need a new way to make money.

More importantly, you need to make the mindset shift that ads are a side income, not your main source of revenue.

The only thing that slowed down the ads bubble popping already was Chrome’s refusal to protect privacy and not do what all other browsers have done, which is to kill 3rd party cookie tracking, and that’s going to happen in 2023, or so they say. It was going to happen in 2021 until they realized how many lawsuits they would encounter with their new tracking method to replace the current cookie method.

Site owners whose audience is primarily using Firefox and Safari browsers, plus the Brave browser that is now getting a lot of attention, have already seen mass reductions in ad revenue.

And the only way ad agencies have of collecting the info they need to keep revenue high is to put a thing on your site to trick folks into giving the ad agency their email address as a form of consent to show them personalized ads. 

Some ad agencies have already botched the implementation of such things by not sharing those email addresses with the site owner – while the visitor thought they were signing up for the site’s newsletter.

Folks, your site is not The New York Times. And folks are not going to want to have to sign up or log in to see a recipe.

And if they do, that first-party data is a gold mine. Why are you giving it to only a single ad agency? There are far more lucrative ways coming to make use of that info.

Ads will always be with us.

But instead of creating content that you hope someone will see, and hope someone else will pay enough to make your time on the hamster wheel worthwhile – why not get paid directly?

Your Knowledge and Time are Valuable

Get paid for both.

Think of your content as a product.

And sell it.

Short-form content is going to be your best lead-in to long-form content.

I see folks give 3 minute tips on TikTok that lead to longer videos on YouTube that lead to the full info on their site.

And there are things for folks to buy when they get to YouTube and your site.

Generate one post.

Make 10 short-form tips from it. 

Make 2-4 longer forms of it.

Batch process the whole thing.

And do it in a way that you build a content silo of info that makes folks subscribe to you everywhere.

It’s about building tribe now, not just getting 50k visitors a month with most of them being new to you instead of repeat visitors.

The Move to E-commerce

Now is the time to start the move into E-commerce and selling what you know directly to your followers.

You can sell:

• A bundle of your best tips in a printable download
• An ebook
• A mini course with a narrow focus that addresses one topic – this can even be done as an email drip course
• A full course that goes deeper into a topic
• A mastermind group
• Anything that saves folks time – like an itinerary of best places to visit, a meal planner, a how-to checklist, a pattern to make something, and more
• Run a paid Discord with insider info.

Way too often I see a blogger rope themselves into doing a monthly free giveaway.

No!!!!!

Give folks 1 and only 1 freebie in exchange for their email address.

If they like that thing, then offer the rest for sale.

I also see too many bloggers letting new folks into their monthly products that giveaway all products created up to the date someone joined. 

No!!!!!!

Have cut off dates for collections.

If someone wants access to past collections, they can buy more.

Stop giving away the store to folks who are already willing to pay you.

Save that for all your short-form content to get more eyeballs.

New Platforms for New Eyeballs and Money

Brands are more often paying for sponsored videos than sponsored posts now.

That means you need to get a video following.

It’s no longer about sending folks back to your site.

It’s about growing a loyal audience and making money directly on 3rd party platforms.

The biggest direct-pay and brand sponsorship money makers are on Instagram and TikTok.

YouTube is in the running too, but it’s already more saturated and harder to break through there.

And it’s a lot harder to get paid directly by fans on YouTube as well. They are still running on the old ads model where you split the profits with them.

Folks are going to want to hang out in the metaverse eventually too, and sooner than you think.

Let these facts open your eyes to just how fast all of this is being adopted.

On Christmas Day, TikTok was by far the most downloaded app. Oculus had record sales and games for it were the most downloaded gaming apps.

And if you think the global numbers of users being mostly teens make you think your target audience is not on these platforms, you’re dead wrong. You need to break down those global stats by country and then by age group. 

Get Paid in Crypto

How we will get paid by advertisers and followers is changing too.

Some banks and credit cards are already allowing you to hold crypto currency so you can spend it on everyday stuff.

Visa and Mastercard are leading the way.

PayPal is already into crypto too.

I don’t see U.S site owners getting paid in crypto soon, especially if their customers are U.S. based.

But I do see site owners with a more international audience offering crypto payment options to help even out the currency exchange rate for purchases that are USD-only now.

Crypto is one segment of the blockchains that everything will eventually run on.

So, when you hear folks talk about Web 3.0 and crypto, realize that it’s much more than that, but it is a fundamental element of it. And you will need to get educated on how to be smart and safe with it too.

The Future is All About Culture

As I mentioned previously, those who create the best culture win.

This is THE biggest mindset shift you need to have in order to make money through this transition and beyond.

TikTok has a VERY distinct culture.

Facebook/Instagram and YouTube may add functions similar to TikTok for making videos and such, but they have done NOTHING to cultivate a culture on those platforms.

This is why TikTok is winning.

And you can’t just reuse videos made for TikTok on the other platforms very well either, especially on IG.

You can replicate the content, but the video needs to be made in the style of the platform.

Same with everything you create whether that be a blog post or a video.

Developing a culture for your tribe should be the main focus – not just simple information delivery.

Consider BlogAid. It has a distinct, no nonsense, deeply vetted facts, and clear instruction culture – not hype. That is exactly what attracts the folks who pay me and why I enjoy long-term relationships with my peeps.

My peeps also hear my voice and see my face and can interact with me live.

Those are the things that build culture, not just written content.

Consider Heartwood Art. Y’all immediately keyed in on my overalls. It fits my accent and down-to-earth delivery of info there. I bring the same no-nonsense, no hype, clear instruction to it as I do to BlogAid. And I have a tribe of subscribers who like that.

Start thinking about what you create online as an experience. 

Everything you do needs to cultivate that experience for your visitor.

It is how you will build tribe.

Metaverse Culture

Facebook changing its name to Meta may have been the first introduction to the metaverse most folks heard about.

But the fact is, Facebook did not invent virtual reality, nor were they the first to create a metaverse.

And to be honest, Facebook’s Metaverse is lame compared to:

• Decentraland
• Sandbox
• Illuvium and most all other gaming metaverses

Each one is already developing a distinct culture.

And the ones with the best culture, where folks actually want to hang out, will win – just like TikTok is doing with video.

In fact, most Web3 builders believe that Facebook is dying a slow death and their change to Meta is a last ditch effort to stay in the game.

Oculus is the key to their survival. And if they turn their metaverse into a shopping mall, they may hang around. But that’s about the extent of it.

AR and VR are Already Here

It will take a while for Web3 and metaverses to become the norm – but it’s not due to the need to build everything from scratch.

ALL of the technology for both Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are already here.

Remember when cell phones were the size of a briefcase?

And then the one that looked like a brick?

It took years and years to go from that to flip phones.

But once those hit, it took very little time to go from flip phones to iPhones and the entire internet, a computer, games, apps, and an amazing camera to be in your pocket.

AR and VR tech are already here – and the tech is being purchased in record numbers.

Get this irony – Facebook is setting up brick and mortar stores so you can buy VR tech to go shopping in virtual reality instead of stores!!!

You As An Avatar

Have you seen the TV show Alter Ego?

They’ve taken the same hardware and tech used to make the movie Avatar and put it on singers who perform live as their digital avatar in front of a panel of judges and studio audience.

MetaHero is a 3D scanner that can scan you, or anything, into a digital “thing” so you/it can enter a metaverse.

The online gaming industry is all in with this!!!

All of the things you can buy in games now are actively being generated as NFTs you can buy in the metaverse, like skins for your avatar, power-ups, and more.

Snoop Dogg is already giving concerts in the metaverse as his avatar and somebody just paid $500,000 to buy virtual land in that same metaverse.

The fashion industry is all in on this too. 

Nike just purchased an NFT creation studio so that you can buy the same kicks in the metaverse and IRL (In Real Life). 

All manner of other apparel industries are jumping in with both feet on this already too.

Recently the man called China’s Lipstick King sold a record setting $1.7 billion of product with his livestream. How many metaverse and wearable tech folks do you think are interested in him promoting their NFTs right now?

Someday it will be normal for us to have a second life in the metaverse where we show up as our avatar to go shopping, attend events, play games, or just hang out.

One day you may even come to my virtual conference room for a how-to session instead of doing it on Zoom.

And if you think it will always be a sunshiny day in VR, think again.

Accuweather put an API on the blockchain so real weather can be put into metaverses. 

Gamers will love that!!

Move from Video to Avatar

AR and VR as a norm are coming, like it or not, and ready or not.

To get ready, video is your bridge.

It’s not so much about being on camera as it is cultivating your content delivery method.

I’m going to walk right into TikTok in 2022 easily because of all the time I have already spent making videos for other platforms.

I’ve got the tech, the editorial chops, and the delivery method already.

For me, it’s just a matter of learning the TikTok video tricks that are appropriate for its culture.

And it will be easy for me to move from all this into the VR way of doing it as an avatar.

My advice for all of 2021 has been to get into video – no matter what it takes.

If you didn’t follow that advice, then you are another year behind.

Now is the time to commit to video.

To help you do that, I have all manner of mini challenges, courses, and coaches lined up for special sessions in 2022 to help you get on this train.

And I already have a Video SEO Booster course to propel your videos to the top of Google search.

NFTs and Images

Here’s something else you need to get schooled on starting today, as it will directly impact the digital media you create.

NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. Basically it registers absolute ownership of a thing.

Hot NFT sales are happening right now for digital artwork as well as metaverse skins and products. 

Some NFTs are going for millions of dollars.

In the near future, the utility side of NFTs will catch on and you’ll use them to purchase tickets to an event, or even airline tickets and hotel rooms and such. This is the sector I’m currently investing in. It’s the foundation of all else to come.

Another use for NFTs is to prove ownership of an image – you know, like the ones you upload to your blog that get scraped by scammers all the time now?

Yeah, it won’t be hard to prove you own the rights to an image once you mint it as an NFT.

Does that mean folks can’t scrape it anymore? No. But it does mean that creators have a way to prove ownership and in the long run, it will cut down on scrapers being able to make money off it – and make it easier to find those doing it.

FYI, we’re a ways off from that, and NFT’s are a scammer’s haven right now. That will change, though.

But believe me, the sheer volume of money in the NFT marketplace has social media companies scrambling.

Twitter is expanding its crypto and NFT projects.

Instagram wants to create an NFT platform, although they are botching it right out of the gate. I expect Facebook, and Meta as a whole, to botch this by making it more about their economic gain than the creators. Other platforms are not making that mistake because they get the whole premise of Web3 decentralization and content and data ownership. Meta doesn’t get any of those things.

So, I’m not advising that you start creating NFTs yet. But I am advising that you do a deep dive into learning about them now.

And I’ll be telling you more in Tips Tuesday about them too, as they become something we all need to get on board with.

Learn More About Web 3.0

Web3 is already being built – rapidly.

We will be moving to it over the next 5 years.

Early adopters win big – you know this from all of the “gurus” you began following when you first started out as a blogger.

There’s a LOT of new lingo associated with Web3. You will want to learn it the same way you had to learn all of the website lingo you were faced with when you started your site.

Following are a few Web3 resources to get you started:

• The Ultimate Guide to Web 3.0 – I don’t actually consider this an ultimate guide. It scratches the surface, but it does introduce you to some of the main concepts of the blockchain and decentralization plus ownership of content and data.
• Why Decentralization Matters – by Chris Dixon, who is one of the visionary voices in the space. This article is about the history of the internet and how Web 1.0 was decentralized, then how we moved into Web 2.0 with centralized companies running the show, and why we need to move to Web 3.0 and give the internet, it’s content, and it’s data ownership back to the people.
• The Ownership Economy – this article explains the role of crypto in Web 3.0, including who builds it and how we all have a vote in the platforms and softwares we use.
• Community DOAs – this article explains how Web 3.0 will dismantle the current corporate structure with its overpaid CEOs and greedy board of directors running the show. A DOA has no central authority and the course of action is voted on by the entire membership, which will be the crypto holder investors.

I Hope You Make the Journey With Me

I’m actively moving myself and BlogAid into the Web 3.0 world.

I have to.

It’s how I will continue to make a living, just as I did by jumping into Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and now working in Web 2.5.

I will do my best to continue supporting our current Web 2.5 sites, as they will co-exist with Web 3.0 for several more years.

But, I will also do my best to strongly encourage you to start making the transition of how you get visitors and how you make money online, which may not all be on your site.

And in the coming years, I will continue to help you establish a Web 3 presence that is on the blockchain in some manner.

I will also help you avoid scams and security issues to the best of my ability. But know that this venture is the wild west and we are all making it up as we go, just like we did with Web 2.0 and blogging and all of the social media platforms we use now.

Change will be rapid. And opportunities will pop up quickly.

I hope to help us all lay the foundation so we can pounce on those opportunities and make the most of them while they last.

I realize that to some of you with super established blogs, this all seems like a lot of work.

In fact, I’ve helped more folks properly close their websites in 2021 than in all the time I’ve run BlogAid.

I also realize that all of this sounds super exciting to some folks and I believe we are going to have a lot of fun with it.

I’m more excited about it than I’ve been in years, and I’m going all in!!!

And I’m looking to engage and help folks who are ready to embrace the change and make even more money from their content.

All of this is what you’ll be hearing more about from me in 2022.

And I’ll see you, literally see you, online today for our live chat on the BlogAid Facebook page.