Personal Computing: Beefing Up the Content of Your Web Site

On the Web, content is king. Or should be. If you want people to visit, stick around, and come back, whether you help run a corporate or other organizational site or have put together a home-grown hobby site, give them substance to satisfy them.

The appearance of your Web site is still important, helping to establish professionalism and credibility. But the information and other substantive material you provide -- the "content" -- matter most.

Several studies have backed up this commonsense notion.

One study, from the Poynter Institute and Stanford University, showed that, unlike with newspapers and magazines, people who read Web news sites typically focus on the text first, looking at photos and other graphics afterward. People on the Internet operate in "Internet time" -- fast. They don't linger over Web pages as they would a newspaper or magazine when drinking a cup of coffee.

Another study, by Forrester Research, showed that what people value most at a Web site is "direct paths to the content I am looking for." Next was "proper labeling of menu items." After this, people most valued "great search."

People reading Web sites, for the most part, seek substance over style, usefulness over flash. They want to get want they want quickly. Here are some ways to make this happen: