Quality, value, satisfaction, trust, a

H2: When consumers surf the Web, the structure of the Web site is positively related to: a)
attitude toward the Web site, b) involvement, c) exploratory behavior, and d) purchase
intentions.
3.1.3 Effectiveness of the information content
Among the criteria established for evaluating the information content of commercial Web pages,
Dholakia and Rego (1998) cited price or value, components or contents, performance, and quality. Web
page designers are confronted with the problem of how to design pages to make them popular. There are
two basic creative strategies: either design the page to be cool with colored backgrounds, Java applets,
sound and video files, or focus on functional presentation of content instead of on novelty and visual
appeal.
Kelsey and Misic (1999) mentioned that content and site are evaluated in terms of currency and
presentation. Top sites are chosen in terms of their unique functionality, design or both (Kelsey and
Misic, 1999; Johnson and Misic, 1999). Misic and Johnson (1999) described Web-related criteria as
finding contact information and main page, speed, uniqueness of functionality, ease of navigation,
counter, currency, wording, color and style.
Bell and Tang (1998) studied six specific industry sectors and their Web sites rated highly on ease of
access, content and structure and poorly in the number of unique features.
Attitude toward the site. Earlier research on the ad value tended to focus on information (Cox, 1962;
Ratchford, 1980; Stigler, 1961), information content (Resnik and Stern, 1977; Stern, Krugman and
Resnik,1981), and how informative the ad is perceived to be (Aaker and Norris, 1982; King et al, 1987).
Forrester Research indicates in a recent study that high-quality content, ease of use, speed and
frequency of updating are the four main factors contributing to repeat visits (Numbers, 1999). Education
is where these Web site characteristics were first described and studied. Siu and Chau (1998) noted that
students perceive the information content of educational Web sites as important and useful, but believe
that the Web site should be technically easy to master. These authors labeled technological quality and
appropriateness as information content, whereas quality and originality and perceived loading speed can
be termed as navigability and quality. Mechitov, Moshkovich and Underwood (2001) compared academic
Web sites and studied the characteristics of a university Web site and the students’ perception of its
overall effectiveness. A good Web site is found to be attractive, well-designed (high quality images,
animation or 3D-graphics without low downloading times), informative with well-identified links to other
pages, the necessary information displayed concisely and logically, with highly informative content and
easy access to it, and inclusion of a variety of Web pages devoted to entertainment.
However, another research found results at variance with those of previous studies. The information
content of Web pages, per se, does not appear to attract visitors to the Web sites (Dholakia and Rego,
1998). Web page popularity, however, is found to be strongly and positively influenced by the renewal
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