You've decided on your mission. You wrote it. Then you rewrote it. Then you rewrote it again. Now it's time to gather the content that'll reflect the theme of your site. There are two types of content:

• Content you already have: If you're planning a business site, you probably have marketing brochures, product briefs, sales letters, and the like. Gather these in one place. With luck, everything you have is already in a digital format, otherwise you'll have to spend at least a few hours retyping (or scanning) hard copies.

If you're a business owner -- or if you have family members with time to spare -- consider delegating this task.

• Content you may not know you need: If you have competitors, your goal is to get Web surfers to surf your site rather than your competitors' sites. To accomplish this, you have to find out just what your competitors have on their sites and "do them one better."

Let's say, for example, you want to build a Web site that provides the ultimate source for kite enthusiasts. You have a bunch of product brochures, but that really isn't sufficient to build a Web site that anyone's going to want to visit. So, it's off to the search engines to see what your competitors are doing.

The following are some good search engines you can use for your research:

• Google
• MSN Search
• Yahoo!
• Ask

You can use any of these to come up with a list of competitors. For example, searching for kite dealers, you get list of kite-oriented Web sites, including the one shown in Figure 1-1.

Figure 1-1: One of the competitor sites in the kite Web space is Into The Wind.

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The Into The Wind Web site contains a wide variety of content, including:

• Kite kits and supplies
• Kite comparisons
• Expert advice
• Forums
• E-newsletter
• Lists of kite-related events

There's a lot of content there and if you're going to compete in this area, you need content that's equally as dramatic.

Far too many people set out on building their first Web site with the idea they're going to compete with a site like Intothewind.com on a shoestring budget. Do not try this at home. It's true that many of today's most popular sites started out as someone's weekend project, but most of them didn't have any competition when they started.

When you plan the content for a Web site, there's also "wish list" content. This is content that you don't currently have, and isn't found on any competitor site, but that you think would be a great asset to your site. You may have seen something you like on a non-competitor's site, such as music, video, newsletters, and so on. Of course, you're walking a fine line here. Put too many things on your site and you run the risk of having a non-focused, confusing site. Put too little on your site and you run the risk of being boring.

Now it's time to make a list of what your site is going to contain.

Making a List and Checking It Twice

Make a complete list of everything you want to have on your Web site, even if you don't put it all online right away. First, list everything you own (meaning content -- no one cares about your SUV or stereo) and have readily available. Next, browse the Web and see what your competitors are up to. Make a list of what they have and from that list, decide what you want to include on your site. Finally, add all those "must haves" you've seen on other sites to your list, even sites that aren't your competitors.

After you've made your list, go eat dinner or take a walk. There'll be plenty of time for staring at the computer later. After your break, return to the list and go over it, item by item. Put a "Yes" next to the items that really make sense for your site. Write "No" on items that might detract from your site.