A company's website is its global shop-window, yet so many are little more than transplanted brochures or press releases, which aren't suited to the short attention span of Web users and risk losing potential business. A common mistake is to focus on the business rather than the customer: it should always be remembered, says the book's author, Gerry McGovern, that "your information succeeds when it drives the action you intended to drive".

The secret of an arresting website lies in trigger words-or as McGovern prefers to call them, "carewords", because of the reactions they arouse. When Microsoft changed one word in a Web heading, it saw a 300 per cent increase in hits. Fortune magazine's sales boomed when a supplement, which was called something boring like Better Plans for Retirement was changed to Retire Rich.

McGovern argues that Web content is too important to be regarded as a mundane IT task. The management team should regularly read it with an eye on both the company's customers and its reputation (particularly vulnerable in the blog era). It should tell a compelling story, remembering that "less is more",  and ensure it is "search-friendly," tied into the maximum number of links. This short, sparky primer uncovers value in a neglected business asset.