By Dane Christensen

I recently read an editorial about the state of the Web in which the editor expressed the opinion that the Internet was doomed to disintegrate in it's own waste. As an analogy he referred to an experiment that was done in which a male and female fly were placed in an enclosed sphere with all the food they could eat. Soon, they ended up dying in their own waste. Repeated trials always ended in the same result. The author's opinion was that with all the tools allowing anyone to create a web site at will, it will soon be clogged up with the collective garbage put out there.

I don't share this opinion--or at least the conclusion. I do agree that the amount of worthless garbage on the Web is expanding at an astonishing rate. I don't believe, however, that we have to deal with it. The Web is constantly developing new ways to help people filter out all the garbage and get just the good stuff. The best example I can think of is Absolute Authority (http://www.absoluteauthority.com). Rather than rely on a search engine to direct you to the information you need, we harness the power of real people to deliver only the best stuff on the Web.

As people learn about such filters, they will use them to expedite their Web surfing. Those sites that are of low quality will be filtered out and relegated to Web oblivion. How can you keep your site from suffering this terrible fate? Employ the 7 C's of great web sites. You may have heard of the 3 C's (Content, Community, and Commerce), but there are more. Get all 7 C's built into your site and you will be way ahead of the game.

1) Content
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Content is the "Bread and Butter" of any web site. This can refer to news, information, commentary, reports, humor, or many other types of material. The better your content, the longer you can expect people to stay and the more frequently return. And don't forget, people do notice spelling, grammar, and punctuation, so double check!

2) Community
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Connecting with people with common interests is one of the main reason people use the Net. Providing the medium for people to communicate is ensures that they will be connected to your site. There are many places you can go to add community to your site. But to really make them stick with your community you may need to help it out by participating a good deal yourself. Real community does take some effort.

3) Capability
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This refers to tools that allow people to do more than just read through material. With these utilities people can search, build, submit, organize, or otherwise manipulate data in powerful ways. For great examples of what we mean by capability go visit any Absolute Authority vertical portal and click on the PowerToolssection. You'll get the idea.

4) Consistency
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Most people like variety--but not too much. Especially not when it comes to a Web interface. They appreciate familiar patterns that reduce the need to think about what to do. All of your pages should have a standard navigational structure. Furthermore, it's a good idea to make your structure conform to general web site patterns (such as the menu panel on the left). Your visitors will appreciate it.

5) Clarity
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Surfers like sites that are clear and simple. There should never be any doubt about the purpose of a site or what it has to offer. Clarity applies to your verbiage, your graphics, and your site structure. People are busy, and don't want to spend time trying to figure out if what you have is what they need. You have about 15 seconds to make your case.

6) Customizable
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Really excellent sites allow the user to customize the interface to suit their own needs. (But not too many options-- see Clarity above).

Examples of customization are pages like My Yahoo! where you can include news of interest, your own email, etc. This, of course, requires some pretty sophisticated programming, but it is gradually becoming the standard on the Web. You'll need to get on top of this one.

7) Commerce
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Taken together, all of the above factors are what attract people to your site and make them stick. Now that you've provided all these great things for your visitors, it's time to do something good for you. Adding commerce makes it worth your while. To make ecommerce work, it must be secure, simple, and targeted. You will have the ability to add commerce both through affiliate programs as well as your own shopping cart system.

I feel compelled to mention, as a shameless plug, that we have endeavored to build all 7 C's into our portals at Absolute Authority. Come on by for a visit and evaluate them on each of these criteria. Let me know if you think we've accomplished this.

Dane Christensen has been an Internet entrepreneur since 1994.He has designed and maintained internal networks for companies including Pacific Bell, Hitachi, Pacific Gas and Electric, Goldman Sachs and Lawrence Livermore Labs. His key strengths include strategic development, design, and marketing communications. Dane is currently the driving force behind several Internet companies. He is CEO of Absolute Authority, Inc. at
http://www.absoluteauthority.com/