When people are using the internet, they are looking for information.
This is the most important observation about users on the internet. On the internet, content and information is king. Search engines rank websites by how relevant and important their information is, as well as how many people are searching for that information and finding it. This is important to the design of a website because when a user comes to your home page, they are looking for a piece or pieces of information. If they have to search for that information, users are less likely to use your website. So, a general guideline of website design is to find the information that the most number of people are looking for, and hit them over the head with it.