While the Internet is growing at incredible rates and it is impossible to predict with a great deal of accuracy what will be still part of the "mainstream" Internet in even a few years, there are some emerging Web site trends that show what you can likely expect.
 
Expect multimedia-rich sites that offer something of real value or entertainment to the visitor. Web sites are a commodity and the days of offering a common product on a standard page are dwindling fast.

Top webmasters (creators of Web sites) know that they must offer something unique to keep the masses coming back to their site.

Amazon.Com is considered by many Internet analysts to be one of the most highly successful Web ventures. The self-titled "earth's biggest bookstore" offers visitors the ability to browse the 2.5 million book titles online by category and search a book by author, title, subject and much more. Customers then fill a "shopping cart" with books they want to purchase, enter their billing information and credit card into a secure electronic server and get the books shipped.

This is only the tip of the iceberg.

This successful discount bookseller also lets you read exclusive book reviews, text extracts and author interviews. You can try to win prizes in one of four different contest (related to books and writing, of course) or give your feedback about a variety of topics.

One of Amazon.Com's best features is its "Eyes" and "Expert Editors" list.

With Eyes "you can track every newly released book, author-by-author and subject-by-subject" and be notified by e-mail when the books you want to know about are published. Expert Editor is similar, but sends you a bi-weekly e-mail review of books in subject areas of your choosing.

In a similar fashion, I am very interested in programs that stop computer viruses and want the latest release of software to keep me protected. I subscribe to a service on the AntiVirus Resources Web site that e-mails me when the latest release is available.

These types of e-mail notification services are ways for webmasters to keep their Internet site names in front of customers' eyes as often as they can without sending unsolicited or unwanted e-mail and the customers benefit by receiving information that they requested.

Another Web site trick to get and keep a loyal following is to offer a "chat" room for your product or service-related topic.

For example, SeniorCom wants senior citizens to chat at its site and stick around to see the rest of the topics that related to them, so it offers a variety of chat topics related to seniors.

One of the fastest growing trends for larger and smaller companies alike is to provide more personalized or localized information.

Some localized "shopping malls" or chambers of commerce sites try to keep you informed of what is happening with the community as well while giving you their marketing pitch.

Others, like My Yahoo! allow you to personalize the site with topics specifically of interest to you.

When I visit the My Yahoo! site I am greeted by name and am shown news topics that I pre-selected. I also have a local phone book, map, weather prediction, sports scores and stock ticker - all that I chose.

Web sites will continue to change, shape and re-shape throughout the years. The technology to create multimedia-rich, highly personalized, interactive Web sites is still in its infancy, but the future looks bright for those that can stay ahead of the technology curve.