Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web 20 years ago, is proposing a web for open, linked data that could do for numbers what the Web did for words, pictures and video.

He suggests unlocking raw data globally could unleash a new world of answers, which could connect people and build relationships, aid mankind and generate infinite opportunities.

If everyone partakes – including governments and corporations — “link data” could completely connect the world via unprocessed information, utilizing everything from event and personal data to medical and economic data.

So many more answers would be at our fingertips.

Watch Berners-Lee discuss link data on TED.

Most business owners understand and appreciate the benefits of having a website: it’s cheaper and more flexible than print; makes market expansion possible regardless of your size; works for you 24/7/365; and increases revenue stream opportunities. The list goes on.

But while websites provide a super highway for informational communication, there’s also the all-important relational aspect. Websites are critical in establishing and nurturing relationships with others.

Indeed, use websites to get your point across. Just don’t forget to leverage the opportunity to foster closer ties and create a solid rapport with your prospects and clients alike.

Whether you take advantage of e-mail, newsletters, online tools or one of many nifty Web 2.0 applications, remember your website can build authentic relationships that create desirable outcomes for all parties involved.

Poor information architecture causes the majority of outright user failures and isn’t improving at the rate of other Web usability issues, reports usability authority Jakob Nielsen.

To determine why, he identified 10 long-term sore thumbs that together cost websites billions of dollars each year.

Many of these information architecture blunders can be quickly and easily corrected, such as made-up menu names. Why use “What makes XZY company tick” when people are looking for an “About us” button?

As Nielsen suggests, websites should communicate plainly and simply. Otherwise you’re likely frustrating your visitors and missing opportunities.

Check out Nielsen’s full report.

Consumers are cutting down on excess, forcing marketers to take a new approach to selling luxury.

It’s time to be more rational, notes Bert Helm in a BusinessWeek article: “Forget the usual talk of indulgent luxury. Instead companies from General Electric to Lexus are employing sober, left-brain pitches – special deals, useful features, long-term savings.”

Indeed, during these trying times, marketers must focus on value, practicality and durability.

Read: Advertisers Adjust to Market Luxury in a Recession.

For business and pleasure, people are placing bios on multiple sites, from Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn. That’s because Internet users have an increasing number of accounts where we make friends, build networks or market businesses.

So it makes sense to invest some effort or resources in a bio, and even have a couple of different versions serving different sites and purposes. After all, you’re branding yourself on the Web, and the right bios can make a world of difference to how people perceive you.

Presenting consistent information in your bio(s) makes you appear more professional and memorable. However, personal brands are often disjointed on the Web because most people have different identities on each social network.

The good news is there are emerging technologies that will enable a transportable identity, which will empower Internet users to bring your identities with you. It’ll lead to an integrated social experience.

Meanwhile, whether you have one bio or 10 floating around the Web, it’s wise to ensure your profiles are up to date, consistent, and put your best side forward.

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) dominates the desktop browser market, but definitely not in the design world.

According to W3Counter, IE owns 57.42% of the market, with Firefox in second position with 31.22% of the browser market.

Those numbers closely match our web writer blog stats, which is generally visited by business owners, writers and web designers. Since January, 57.86% cent of visitors were using IE, and 32.26% used Firefox.

However, our main Webcopyplus web writing site, which predominantly attracts web designers through several popular web design blogs, tells a very different story. In fact, during the same four-month period, 53.82% used Firefox, and only 22.86% used IE.

If web designers ruled the world, IE would be in big trouble! As it turns out, IE should be looking over its shoulder. Mozilla’s Firefox is eating away at the market share, Google is now a serious contender with Chrome, and Apple recently announced Safari 4 beta, promising to put forward the world’s fastest and most innovative Web browser for Mac and Windows PCs.

As entrepreneurs and employees rely more heavily on the Internet and Web-based tools to perform daily functions, browser innovations like faster processing, tabs, and new search features carry a lot of weight, and can instantly change the landscape of browsers.

Call it a marketing gimmick or a historical milestone, some say Web 2.0 will soon make room for Web 3.0.

There are rumblings that Web 3.0 may be able to search meta tags and labels to a much greater degree – thanks to the combination of ‘tagging’ that comes with the social media culture and advancing technology. The expected outcome: sites will spit exceptionally relevant results back at users.

A lot of discussions are based on what’s called Semantic Web. It’s believed computers will scan and interpret collections of information called ontologies using software agents. An ontology, by the way, is a file that defines the relationships amongst a group of terms. Smarter software, smarter computers!

Few would argue the surfacing technology will make the Web smarter, more efficient and profitable. For instance, businesses will gain piercing insights into customer behaviors, which could be used to serve them better (and reach deeper into their pocketbooks).

For business owners and consumers alike, Web 3.0 will likely make it easier to sort through and benefit from the colossal loads of information floating aimlessly around the Web. Perhaps there is a real Google killer not too far off in the horizon.

When will we be exploring (or exploiting) Web 3.0? TutZone’s “Bariski” predicts Web 3.0 will likely get rolling in 2010 and end by 2020. He noted: “It will be the most evolutionary development of that decade because now Web is not just technically orienting people, but it has major social contributions also.”

Bariski even peered into a crystal ball to provide some thought-provoking predictions.

SEO specialists, web writers and website developers, take note: Ask.com has become the second search engine in Germany in the 1st Quarter of 2009, according to research firm Nielsen Netratings.

Google maintained a stronghold on the top spot with 36 million unique users per month on average, and Ask.com came in with 4.2 million users, edging out MSN (4 million unique users), Yahoo (2.5 million unique users) and AOL (1.7 million unique users).

Hold on…how did Ask.com become Germany’s second largest search engine? They bought a lot of Adwords traffic! Read more at Search Cowboys.

You wanted Google’s sitelinks? You got ‘em!

When businesses get serious about online presence, many ask about Google’s sitelinks – the set of links that show up underneath the first search result on the page. These links are great because they provide significant exposure, and allow Internet users to instantly access deeper pages.

Now Google is launching an expansion of sitelinks. Indeed, a single row of links can now appear for results beyond the first position. This means multiple results on one query can now have sitelinks. Up to four sitelinks can show up right above the page URL, instead of the usual two columns below the URL of the first result.

It’s a clever move by Google as businesses may be able to draw more visitors to valuable, but previously overlooked pages. And online visitors (or guests) will be able to scan additional headings and get to relevant information with less time and fewer clicks.

Read: One-line sitelinks on Google’s Webmaster Central Blog.

In the business realm, it’s been said formal learning fulfills 20 per cent of learning needs, while informal learning handles the other 80 per cent. Well, in the past, informal learning was turning to ask your colleague a question. Today, the rise of Web 2.0 technologies and social media brings the means to expand informal learning to the company scale, suggests Forrester Research’s Claire Schooley.

“As an information and knowledge management pro, the time is right to harness informal learning approaches like targeted job-related content, internal YouTube-type video clips, and employee-generated wikis,” reports Schooley.

Forrester indicates some forward-looking companies, such as BT (formerly British Telecom), Intel, and Nike, are making informal learning part of their learning programs, and are reaping rewards.