You’ve probably been to, or used most of them in the past; they’re the cream of the crop, the best of the best, and it’s by no coincidence they got there either. Of course I’m talking about the top ten (English) sites as defined by alexa.com, these sites excel in their field, because they know what works and what doesn’t. In this article we’ll explore the principles that drive these mammoth sites to become the most successful sites on the internet.

So what are the similarities that make these top ten sites in the what they are? Most major sites have three main components that are the driving factor behind their success. In order of importance they are Content, User Interaction. And Timeliness.

Content - Let’s face it: this is the bread and butter of the internet, people crave information, whether it’s searching, shopping, or reading, everyone on the internet is looking for one basic thing content. Right now, you along with millions of other people are actively taking in information relevant to what you want to know, from the start of the internet age we‘ve all heard the metaphor “Content is King“, and it still holds true.

User Interaction - People really “digg” this one (bad pun fully intended); Once we get information on something, be it an article, a news source, even a product listing, we begin formulating our own ideas and opinions on it. This results in an action being taken; See an item on Amazon you like? You read more information on it. Think something is interesting? You might want to look for more resources on it.

Search engines use it to find information. Big web “2.0” sites such as digg.com go as far as being completely based around this principle. Amazon.com realized this and decided to let consumers do their selling for them by letting anyone write a product review, which in turn can be scored by others.

Timeliness - Although not as important as the first two, it definitely deserves a mention; People love juicy new stories and being “in the know”. We’re news-addicts by nature, it’s what keeps us tuned to the weather channel for hours on end as a hurricane runs it’s course. It’s what makes us watch the super bowl year after year though we already know the basic end result. Timeliness has a large effect on how frequently people visit a website and whether they decide to come back.

Now that we know what our three main components are, Let’s take a look at how the top ten sites utilize these principles to fuel their success, along with a breakdown of their strong and weak points.