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Businesses seeking to develop Web applications that grab the attention of online users and customers need to follow one simple rule - keep it "real."

Online success comes from a company's ability to recreate life-like experiences on the Web, to provide the means to create real-time and interactive online content, and to give users the means to craft the experience of their choosing.

Of course, it's much easier said than done, especially if your firm doesn't have the development and design talent or requisite technologies.

But for a multitude of companies that presented at MIX07 - Microsoft's everything-Web event in Las Vegas last week - the one common thread was to keep things real.

A series of Web development stories showed it certainly is possible to build highly compelling online applications that can tantalize Web surfers and ultimately drive dollars to the bottom line. Several featured companies discussed and demonstrated their multimedia-rich Web applications.

American television network CBS was thinking real-time and interactive in building an online environment that allows viewers to be active participants in local news broadcasts. Through its website, CBS is combining traditional media content with user-generated video to create truly integrated daily news broadcasts.

At the MIX07 event, CBS showed how online users invited to submit video reports of an event, in this case a local automotive show, blended into regular newscasts. They were able to directly post their videos to the CBS website.

All online and broadcast viewers were then invited to judge the best submissions and the winning videos posted online actually make it into the regular broadcast news.

Another CBS example showed a news broadcast where content streaming through a broadband Internet connection played alongside a televised news broadcast of the same breaking news event.

In this case, an actual tornado was being videotaped by both the local network affiliate and an onsite amateur observer, who broadcast from the same location through an online hookup. Both played side-by-side during the network broadcast report of the event and showed uniquely different perspectives.

In another example, The New York Times demonstrated a tool called an online reader that provides a newspaper reading experience that's probably as close as you can get to actually turning newsprint pages.

The online reader tool allows subscribers to read a daily news edition as a digital experience that looks and "feels" like a real newspaper.The tool provides a user experience of looking through stories as if they were on a page and the high-resolution look makes the text easy to read and photographs vibrant.

The newspaper reports that those who subscribe to the online reader edition spend approximately 23 minutes a day reading the content and there's been a sevenfold increase in page views by readers since the service began a little more than a year ago. Conversely, readers of the newspaper's regular website spend about an hour a month reading content.

Another innovative example at MIX07 was offered by the Sick Kids Foundation, a fundraising arm of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Sick Kids wanted to encourage greater giving by bringing to potential donors some real-life experiences of the people served by the hospital.

"One of the things we're really focused on is, if you're a donor, how can we connect with you in a way that meets your needs? How do we actually present to you the right stories, the right motivation and the right experience so that you're motivated to donate and to maintain that loyalty to our foundation?" asks Chris Waddell, director of IT for the Sick Kids Foundation.

With the help of Toronto's Momentum Advanced Solutions Inc., Sick Kids built an application for electronic kiosks located in the hospital's expansive Donor Hall that recognizes those who've given.

The kiosk had previously been a static terminal that offered a directory for visitors to look up their names and then find their plaques on display in the hall. The kiosk had become a popular way to pass time, perused by many visitors while waiting for family members undergoing treatment.

Mr. Waddell saw an opportunity to encourage more donations by relating the good research work going on at the hospital itself and, more importantly, sharing the real stories and experiences of those who used the hospital."It's a great opportunity to be able to have a conversation using a kiosk, or other kinds of technology, to say, here's how you can help," Mr. Waddell says.

While the Web application is still in an early stage, there's hope the hospital can reach well beyond the 179,500 people who already give and encourage people to give even more by sharing these real-life experiences.

These Web development tales of innovation and interactivity illustrate just how critical it is to keep things real. For any business, the takeaway message is that customers grab hold of messages they can relate to. The key is to build applications that keep them engaged and participating.

According to Charles Fitzgerald, general manager of platform, products and services for Microsoft, there are two simple tenets in developing today's online business applications. He suggests companies should consider how to reach their customers online through software and how to differentiate themselves as a business.

Online software has become the primary way in which businesses reach out to interact with customers, adds Mr. Fitzgerald, estimating that about 90 per cent of customer contact now happens online.

This means the bar is higher than ever for what people expect in terms of an online user experience. It happens through vibrant and dynamic online presentation, and sizzle - things like rich images, lots of video and letting online users personalize and customize their experiences.

That's today's online reality.

Dan McLean is editor-in-chief of publisher ITWorldCanada.com.

dmclean@itworldcanada.com