Media has certainly come a long way in the past 20 years.  Having been involved professonally in photography, video production and post production, 3D animation, digital imaging and now Internet Technology and programming, I've had my  finger on the pulse of digital technology for well over 20 years.  It's in my blood.

Among the services I offer is Web Design.   With current competition in the hosting and design industry a business can  afford PROFESSIONAL Internet Presence for about what it costs to support a (bad) smoking habit.  And so, many  businesses purchase Webs..., and THEN completely get lost in the shadows of "adding content".  Any professional web  designer can point to a percentage of "dead webs" in their client listing....    sites which are installed, configured,  customized and looking VERY slick... only they contain no content...  Just an empty shell, with a "Coming Soon"  plastered on the index page. 

This is akin to paying your local print shop for a full color run of flyers, and then not giving them any information  or materials about what you want ON them...   A Web site comes with annual fees, and it makes no sense to start paying  an annual on something that you are not (yet) using.  And so, the solution is to first decide what you want ON your  site, BEFORE you sign that check. The hardest part of the (content) process is to decide what direction and purpose you will require of your site.  Is  this a site to advertise your business (mostly) or to support and inform an already established clientbase?  Is it an  information only site, or do you wish to create the feeling of community and interactivity? 

If you're like most, you haven't really put much time or thought into these questions...   All you know is that  everyone you know has been buggin you to get on line, and now it's so affordable you can no longer make excuses to avoid it.  Ok...   let's start with what you ALREADY have for content.   You have a flyer?  Any advertisements in your archive?  How about information about your industry from a supplier that you can "paraphrase" with?  You have a Logo? 

Any photos of your product(s) that you can LEGALLY use? (ALL photos require copyright permission from their creators to  use).  And if you don't have the talent of writing, who can you hire to write some content for you?   It's like that  printing job mentioned above... If you don't have camera ready art for the job, then you have to hire someone to produce it for you... or the printing job becomes rather moot.

Now, that you have something (if even minimalistic) to place on your Web, how do you plan to bring people to your site  and keep them coming back?   Hmmm...   think about what Web sites YOU enjoy visiting regularly and what keeps YOU  coming back...    Fresh content for one thing....  If you keep seeing the same thing visit after visit, then what's the pont  of returning?  You can either create your own content (once a month is absolutely a minimum), employ someone to do it  for you, OR, find some
Free Dynamic Content feeds from other sites.  However, feeds come with the suppliers  advertisements or links, and you have to be very picky about what you use.  SOME of them, for example, can add pop up  windows to YOUR site, and NO ONE likes those...

A user forum can be set up very affordably on your site and attract users under the feeling of community.  But beware,  unless you are certain you can promote it and get people to USE it, I wouldn't suggest it.  There are HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of forums already running, and nothing looks as bad as an EMTPY forum....  I know because I've RUN a few of  those in the past

EVERYONE likes FREE CLASSIFIEDS and in fact, they are among the highest searched for terms with the Search Engines.  If  your business or marketplace can benefit ANY WHICH WAY from a classifieds, I would strongly suggest setting one up.  BUT AGAIN, ONLY if you are planning on advertising it LOUDLY.  You don't want to allow it to lay unused...    People  tend to shy away from empty shell Web sites.

There are thousands of Web scripts (server side programs), many of which are open source (free to use). What that means  to the small Web site operator is that if you want it, you can have it.  Rather than list the VAST capacities of such  scripts, you are free to browse HotScripts.com and let your gears spin a bit ;-)  It's an awesome world out here.

Spend the extra time to plan, find and produce materials for a Web site BEFORE you hire on a design company.  Not only is not doing this a waste of your money, but it's frustrating for those who are building your site, and it's bound to  show in the quality of work you get from said designer.  You don't want to take the wind out of your designers sails. Like any other project, start with an outline.   Build a page of material for each page you want on the Web, ON PAPER.  Place photos or digital images inside of envelopes that are clearly marked to match the pages you want them to appear on.   And if you do YOUR job correctly, then the Web Designer will be able to do his or hers.