What Makes a Great Website?

There have been many studies in this area since the inception of the web some decades ago, but one rule continues to ring true: "Content is King"!

This of course implies both what is content (eg. textual, sensory, cultural) and how it is delivered to the target audience.

There are many ways to skin a cat. For example, a site aimed to promote a single product (eg. a new brand of soap) will have vastly different content management needs than, say, an e-commerce superstore which handles thousands of products.

When advising my clients I consider the following:
- What are you trying to achieve with this site (and is it going to be short-lived or long term)?
- What assumptions can we make about your typical audience (eg. minimum screen resolution, Flash capabilities, connection speeds)?
- What are your search optimisation parameters (eg. key words, conversion zones, landing pages)?
- Is you web infrastructure expected to cope with the proposed site?
- And of course, budget and time considerations.

Why should you care about content? Well, organisations which focus on solid content have higher repeat visitations, greater number of referrals, more bookmarks, arguably better search placement, and ultimately thrive. Visitors will place a greater value on your site, and your brand, thus enhancing ROI.

Just remember: "Content is King"!