Type “C. Virginia Fields” into Google and you can scroll through 10 pages without finding a link to newyorkers4fields.com, Ms. Fields’s mayoral campaign Web site.

Click the “En Espanol” button on ferrer2005.com and you can see only part of the Latino candidate’s message. The blog, which includes Fernando Ferrer’s running commentary, is not translated into Spanish.

Go to ognibenefornewyork.com to learn about one of Mayor Bloomberg’s Republican opponents and try to find a phone number for his campaign office. You won’t.

America learned how important campaign Web sites could be in last year’s election, when Howard Dean’s site helped boost his profile and raise money. A report released last month by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that more than a quarter of consumers of political news said the political information they got online during the 2004 presidential campaign made them decide to vote for or against a particular candidate. Experts told The New York Sun that Web sites for local races have the potential to be just as vital.

Despite the mounting evidence, specialists in Web design and online politics said that although all of the politicians vying for the title “mayor” created Web sites – the final one went online about a week ago – they aren’t doing enough to attract and engage voters online.

“Every one of these guys has the equivalent of a Land Rover in his garage. They just don’t know how to drive,” the founder of RightClick Strategies, Larry Purpuro, said after inspecting the sites. “They’re taking this long journey known as candidate for mayor. They have this tremendous resource in the Web. They just don’t know how to use it.”

THE STYLE OF SUBSTANCE

Mr. Purpuro, who designs Web sites and won a first place Pollie award from the American Association of Political Consultants for a Web campaign he created, said candidates typically want “a wonderful presentation that is an exercise in ego gratification.” That, however, is not what Internet-users want, he said. People who go to campaign Web sites want to find substantial amounts of information in a “digestible, user-friendly” format, he said, adding that Web-users are particularly interested in information that will help them compare different candidates, such as links to opposition Web sites or charts comparing candidates’ stances on issues.

If Mr. Purpuro is correct, then short blurbs, like those on the mayor’s reelection site, mikebloomberg.com, probably wouldn’t please an average Internet-user, nor would the absence of an “issues” section on the site of the Democratic front-runner, Fernando Ferrer – though Mr. Ferrer does earn some points by posting news stories about himself.

Rep. Anthony Weiner’s site might be popular among Web surfers for including the text of speeches he has delivered at his site, anthonyweiner.com, in addition to short descriptions of his policy ideas. Ms. Fields, too, provides plenty of information, in the form of issue papers on such topics as affordable housing, aging, and the redevelopment of the West Side of Manhattan.

The president of E-Advocates, an Internet advocacy and consulting company, Pam Fielding, said voters want to verify candidates’ records.

“If you say, ‘I support education,’ they’d like to be able to link to the vote you took,” she said. “They want to be able to do online research. They also appreciate the ability to verify what somebody says. … There’s a little bit of investigative journalist in all of us, and sometimes we just want to see it for ourselves, read it for ourselves.”

To that end, candidates should provide an abundance of links.

An associate professor of political science at the State University of New York’s Institute of Technology, Steven Schneider, said candidates make a big mistake when they underutilize links.

Mr. Schneider said many candidates “forget that the essence of the Web is the link.”

“They try to keep people and prevent them from going other places,” he said.

He said he’s a fan of campaign sites that link to opponents’ sites. “They ought to have the confidence to say, ‘I think you’re going to agree with me,’ ” he said.

None of the candidates has links to opponents’ sites – or to much else.

OLD HAT

A common mistake made on campaign Web sites is failing to update news and blog sections regularly.

The last entry on Fernando Ferrer’s blog was posted April 6. Worse, the last entry in Rep. Anthony Weiner’s “quotes of the day” category is from Valentine’s Day. And on the news section of the site of the Republican businessman Steven Shaw, shawformayor.com, the last entry is from June 17, when Mr. Shaw announced his challenge of Mr. Bloomberg for the Republican nomination.

“A blog should be topical, timely conversation amongst campaign supporters,” Mr. Purpuro said. “It’s supposed to be an online journal.

“People who keep a diary but only make an entry every two weeks miss a lot of opportunities in the campaign,” he said, adding that people won’t return to a site that isn’t updated regularly.

Pamela Fielding, Internet consultant, said it’s also important to provide an online calendar and keep it up to date.

Only two of the candidates, Gifford Miller, who is the City Council speaker, and C. Virginia Fields, the Manhattan borough president, have calendars.

CALL TO ACTION

SUNY’s Steven Schneider, who is co-director of webarchivist.org, a research group that studies the Internet, said the Web sites’ most important role is to mobilize campaign backers.

“If they provide an opportunity for people to interact, for supporters to interact, and recruit other people, they are providing these structures and allowing people to do things on their own,” he said. “When you just give people the basic tools, they can go out and use them. That’s a powerful use of the Web.”

Ms. Fielding expressed similar feelings about interactivity.

She said some of the most important features on sites are the ones that allow voters to get involved and interact with other voters and the campaign.

Those features include “register to vote” sections, “tell a friend” sections, two-way blogs, “volunteer” and “donate” options, and opportunities to communicate with the campaign by e-mail, phone, or letter.

Ms. Fielding criticized Mayor Bloomberg’s site because it promises the option of downloading a “supporter kit,” but when you click the option there is no instant gratification: You have to fill in your mailing address and wait for something to show up via “snail” mail.

The founder and chairwoman of the Webby Awards, Tiffany Shlain, said it’s a good idea to allow constituents to use the campaign site to send e-mail to the candidate, but that shouldn’t be the only way to reach out to the campaign. “A lot of campaigns bury their actual telephone numbers, or they’ll have it so you can only e-mail people,” she said, adding, “I’m seeing a lot of forms you have to fill out.”

Similarly, Ms. Fielding warned that while blogs can be helpful if they’re done right, most of the blogs on the candidates’ sites are less than ideal “monoblogs,” blogs that omit any content not written by or for the candidate.

The Ferrer blog, for example, is labeled “A dialogue between Fernando Ferrer and the City of New York,” but it doesn’t allow readers to post responses to Mr. Ferrer’s musings on the pope or the Yankees.

The blog on newyorkers4fields.com is supposed to accept comments from Internet users, but when someone tries to contribute something, the site gives an error message.

WHAT MEETS THE EYE

The co-author of “Winning Campaigns Online” and the CEO of CampaignAdvantage.com, Phillip Nash, said looks aren’t everything in Web design but they’re important.

“If your Web site is not competent, you start with the presumption of this guy is not competent,” he said. “That’s what politics is about, presumptions.”

Mr. Nash said Mayor Bloomberg’s presentation is the best because the site gives a good impression with its clean layout and its pictures, which show the mayor with a wide range of New Yorkers.

He said Mr. Ferrer’s site gives a bad impression.

“The cramped left margin creates an awkwardness that translates into an awkwardness with the candidate,” Mr. Nash said. “More photos showing him with his supporters would be great.”

He questioned why the picture of Mr. Weiner on his homepage shows the candidate standing in front of the Unisphere from the 1964-65 World’s Fair, with his face in shadow.

“Why this picture?” Mr. Nash asked. “What is it about this that symbolizes his campaign? Is he saying, ‘I’m from Queens,’ ‘I’m a U.N. backer?'”

He said if Mr. Weiner really wants to be pictured with the Unisphere, he should be there with 100 supporters.

Ms. Shlain, said “nice aesthetics” are important. But she added:” With politics, the information is the most critical.”

ROOM TO IMPROVE

Although the experts were full of criticisms of the candidates’ sites, they said one of the best characteristics of the Internet is that it constantly changes – and there’s plenty of time left in the campaign to make improvements.

Said Ms. Shlain: “It’s not like there’s one launch and that’s it.”

She said, however, that before initiating big changes, campaign strategists typically should re-examine their approach.

“They have to think of the Web as an integral part of their campaign strategy,” she said. “It’s a direct way that the citizen can learn more about the candidate, not just sound bites.”

Larry Purpuro suggested the candidates could learn from ForABetterNJ.com, a site for Todd Caliguire, who is running for governor of New Jersey. Among other things, the site allows viewers to click on pictures of the heads of the candidate’s six opponents and visit their sites. It also includes all of the news about the candidate – not just the positive stories.

Pam Fielding said those running for New York City mayor could take lessons from candidates around the country who are including innovative interactive features.

For example, she said, some campaigns allow supporters to download “virtual signs” that they can post on their own Web sites, and some allow constituents to become “online block captains” who can blog for the candidates.