Public relations agency Page One explains the 5 essential aspects in an excellent post today – I highly recommend it to you.

Not only does web content increase relevance and therefore search engine rankings and results, “static” content – here, defined as articles, tutorials and other text-based information – reinforces the community’s central mission. In other words, it is valuable information that serves to interest and enrich the reader with utility and meaning.

Members of an affinity audience want to anchor their presence and participation. For example, locals want a place to call their online home. Followers and fans of a band choose their favorite “space” and invest their time there, adding songs, photos and more to their page. Digital video professionals congregate where FAQ and reference material is available 24/7. Good content makes this possible: When these same users also find useful articles, news, links and reviews, their attachment to their chosen site is strengthened.

Therefore, the more relevant, topical content that web publishers add to reinforce the uniqueness & value of their site/community, then the better it is for everybody – for users, advertisers and owners. Content creates value over time (so don’t unpublish anything!). The challenge is to find out how to create & present your special content in a special way that truly adds lasting value.

As White Paper Source states in its forum:

According to Michael Stelzner, author of “How to write a white paper – A white paper on white papers,”

What is a White Paper? 

The term white paper is an offshoot of the term white book, which is an official publication of a national government. A famous white paper example is the Winston Churchill White Paper of 1922, which addressed political conflict in Palestine. 

A white paper typically argues a specific position or solution to a problem. Although white papers take their roots in governmental policy, they have become a common tool used to introduce technology innovations and products. A typical search engine query on “white paper” will return millions of results, with many focused on technology-related issues. 

White papers are powerful marketing tools used to help key decision-makers and influencers justify implementing solutions.

So now you know. If you want more information about how to format, structure and price a white paper, the company offers – surprise: a white paper! – at their site: http://www.whitepapersource.com/report/index.html

Says David Sacks, founder of Twitter-for-business service Yammer, “We are all in the process of creating email 2.0.”

I know that increasingly I am decreasing my e-mail time and increasing my online-social time. I agree with many of the heavy users of services such as Facebook, Twitter and FriendFeed that the Internet is becoming much more pervasive – certainly, we are connecting to the Internet in ways far beyond the browser or news reader. It opens up new opportunities for sharing news as well as methods for delivering services.

Read the full text article.

The most obvious: no traffic. If your site is not generating “sufficient” traffic by “core” users in your target audience – all terms that are subjective and that have been defined at the outset of your project – then you either need to work to generate traffic & use, or to stop investing your time, money & sweat.

Another not-so-obvious reason, and one that even I resist admitting: some has built a better mousetrap. Yes, it’s possible that a similar site exists, and if you cannot compete or cannot develop a unique selling propositin that distinguishes your site from others, then admit defeat and move on.

The web and technology render many sites, domains, business models and pricing obsolete. Although it’s essential to constantly update, redesign and/or evolve your site, it may be untenable or just plain exhausting to maintain competitive.

In the case of rozzo.org, it’s been a case of all three: only a dozen family members registered, no one (me included) desired to create and maintain an online genealogy, online services are free and really good (!), and although I considered re-inventing the site for anyone with the family surname (quite a bit bigger, international, multi-lingual responsibility), in the end I decided to pull the plug on this project. The domain expires next January.

I think it’s good to do a post-mortem: try to comprehend the causes that do and don’t make your site work, take the lessons that you’ve learned, and move on.