According to a Forrester Research report, "As the general content of the web gets broader, individuals will cease aimless surfing activity and gravitate toward sites that deliver products and services customized to their needs. Sites must plan now to respond to this expectation or risk being left behind as the web changes to a personal medium."

The personal web is about delivering the right information to each consumer at the right time, to the benefit of both consumers and businesses. For consumers, personalization means eliminating information overload by providing relevant and timely information that addresses their specific needs, allowing for activation and decision-making. For businesses, personalization provides a cost-effective avenue for gathering information about consumer preferences and behaviors that can be factored into brand messaging and targeting. It also can directly improve site performance by increasing conversation rates, lowering abandonment rates and improving retention performance.

E-commerce businesses like Amazon.com pioneered the personalization of customer experiences by implementing filtering and recommendation technology. Today, the proliferation of smart technologies and social graphing has further enabled personalization so that it can become an intrinsic part of brand strategy.

So how can brands leverage these capabilities to form a more personalized relationship with their customers and truly embody the personal web? The following are six ways to do just that:

1. Do Your Homework
Apart from demographic segmentation, information regarding source of entry (search, direct, click-through), web history, and social graph all can be extremely valuable in tailoring one-to-one experiences. Invest in new tools and applications that allow you to better understand your customers, their preferences and behaviors; and then use this information to create customized experiences, user-by-user.

2. Create Dynamic Homepages
Pushing your brand message is important but you need to do so in a way that resonates with each consumer. Many types of people are coming to your site, with individual learning styles, modes of interaction, and different ways of seeking and finding information. There is no "one size fits all" approach for your whole audience. Avoid static, pre-built pages, and instead try rotating your content, using dynamic insertion and recommendations based on your homework, leveraging text, video and audio when appropriate. These techniques draw in the consumer, increase your opportunities to connect and provide you with additional preference information to fine-tune personalization.

3. Invite Participation and Feedback
People derive value by contributing. They feel valuable, relevant, proud and, even more importantly, included. These positive feelings can pave the way for positive brand associations. Participation can be either indirect and passive, or direct and active, and both types have value. Encourage indirect and passive participation through action-oriented titles, using a conversational tone to your text, and incorporating links into podcasts and video blogs. Encourage direct and active participation by asking questions about customers' opinions, needs or experiences, offering opportunities to create or rate products, and taking polls, to name a few methods. Creating an online environment that fosters participation opens the door for building a bond and developing relationships.

4. Make Content Complete and Easily Accessible
Be it messaging, product information, how-to articles, or FAQs -- relevant content can fuel engagement, particularly social engagement. Be the main source of complete information about your brand, and consider providing complimentary informational or interest-focused content around your products and services. Additionally, ensure that this content is easy and intuitive to find. If not, you will likely experience high bounce rates. Invest in intelligent organization architecture, smarter search, and dynamic formats like Q&A.

5. Adapt Content-Targeting Practices
Thanks to cookies, advertisers can serve up targeted ads based on search history, location, social sharing, and even emails. Leverage this same technology to serve up targeted content which, like the ads, appeals to your customers' preferences, interests and needs. They will find value in being served content that relates to interests for which they have already exhibited a passion. This demonstrates your understanding and helps to further build a trusted, personal relationship.

6. Provide Interest-Centric Communities
Passion around a topic or interest stimulates conversation and engagement. Provide the opportunity for your customers to unite around their passions. This can lead to positive brand associations, while allowing for your brand to be incorporated into the conversation in an organic and authentic manner. Move beyond message boards by utilizing sophisticated discussion platforms that are intuitive, in real time, and that seamlessly interact with content.

In today's landscape, the personal web is not a competitive edge, but rather a critical success factor necessary for building meaningful relationships. Delivering strong results through personalization doesn't have to be costly or complex. Current technology and process approaches allow for personalization in a way that was not thought possible just a few years ago. The most effective brands will leverage the above techniques from inception, strategically weaving personalization into their brand strategy for the dual benefit of their business and their customers.

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