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So why beef up the content on your website? The logic goes that the more people you get to come to your website, the more business you get. Logical really …

It used to be said that success on a website was defined as a “conversion rate” of anything better than 1% — that is, for every 100 people coming to your website, one made a purchase.

Yet there is a potential problem. The more varied content one offers, the higher visitor numbers should rise and that is good. Conversely, the more varied the content one offers, the more varied one’s audience will be. In fact, much of your audience will consist of people who have no need for your prime service. By that logic, page views may go through the roof and sales double or treble, but the conversion rate will fall.

No matter. This is a case where it pays not to get caught up in the jargon. The key phrase is sales DOUBLING or TREBLING. There are some analogies with the retail idea of “pile it high and sell it cheap”, if you sell lots, you can afford a smaller profit margin, though that’s not the whole story. Getting many more people to come to your website will help to make your brand a household name. And as the business develops — and as markets develop too — the people that drift through the site today may be the customer of tomorrow looking for the product of the moment.

That’s why some content streams might not seem to be “target audience”. Your net needs to be spread further.

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I’m beginning to discover the world of streaming webcams. For about two years I ran a webcam which showed the front of Somerset House in London’s trendy West End. Every 30 seconds it took a picture — 320px x 170px — of the road outside, at a crazy angle. This was because the tiny camera was perched precariously on the window ledge between the double glazing of my office in Brettenham House, off Lancaster Place.

Exciting it wasn’t. It did give a good view of the roadworks outside to strengthen Waterloo Bridge and add an access hatch to the Strand Underpass (which even has its own Wikipedia page). The downside was that you only got a glimpse every 30 seconds or so: even British workmen can move faster than that!

Look around the web and you’ll find lots of webcam sites. My favourite is the Times Square HD webcam, and I once made my own .gif movie prancing around in front of this one at 4am in the morning.

The best webcams obviously have the best views, but it’s not as simple as sticking a camera on some lofty building overlooking a recognisable landmark. Take a look at the Hoe Webcam which sits on Plymouth’s old aquarium site and points out over Plymouth Sound. It’s a lovely view, but nothing (much) happens.

In formulating a policy for placing webcam feeds we quickly come to several conclusions.

• It must be a good view
• Something must happen
• It must be of sufficient size

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