It is estimated that in a few short years the Internet will double in size every 72 hours. Billions of people will upload original content every second, and there will be an explosion of information available. This will lead to the need for a middle class of internet users, a class that will step in between those that generate content and those that consume it. Their role will be to wade through the deluge of available information and pick out all of the information on a specific topic that is relevant. More importantly, they will have to do this continuously in order to keep up with all of the new information being generated. They will be called content curators, and their collections will resemble every updating textbooks.

In such a world what should a website designer look for in their original content? How can they ensure that their content stays relevant and gets included in well respected collections so that it will be seen? It will not be enough to include keywords in articles in order to game Google algorithms. Collections will not be about quantity. They will not seek to gather all the of the available information on a given subject. They will look for the best information. Therefore, websites should seek to feature well researched and relevant articles that present a point of view on the topic under discussion.

The best way to ensure the quality of content is to focus it. Websites that currently feature articles on all topics under the sun will be a thing of the past. Websites will have to developed around very specific and focused ideas in order to generate relevant content and to become an authority on their topic. Such websites are much more likely to be features in reputable collections and so their content is much more likely to reach their readership.

Ads will also have to be focused and relevant. At the moment, selling ad space is one of the major ways that websites generate income. But in order to make the website more user friendly, ad space should only be sold to those companies that are related to the topic of the website. This will mean that websites will need to do some marketing research in order to find out who their website is aimed at and which ads will work best. This will ultimately benefit both the website and the company placing the ad, and will generate more ad revenue as companies see their ads attracting customers.

In short, success in the future will be about focus. There will be more information available that anyone will be able to keep track of. The best that can be hoped for is to try to stay abreast of one, specific topic. Users will naturally gravitate to sites that they can rely on for the information they are looking for instead of wading out into the sea on their own. Therefore, sites that wish to be successful will act as content curators for their readership.