Simple, attractive, design		Easy to navigate
Fast loading pages and graphics		Provide useful and valid information
"Conversational" quality to the text		Generous supply of pictures and diagrams
Customer testimonials		Encourage further contact
Prices posted on the site		Credit card acceptance
Easily locatable in search engines		Not too much animation!

Main Graphic:
Main Graphic to Highlight Your Site  or No graphic.
Just use headline text. This is the easiest way to go, but dull. Your “index” or “home” page needs a graphic to look inviting.  Think about it as the sign over your storefront that beckons your customer inside.

Consistency:
Users get very annoyed when they move between pages on a site and find drastically varying designs at every turn. Consistency is the key to usable interaction design: when all interface elements look and function the same, users feel more confident using the site because they can transfer their learning from one subsite to the next rather than having to learn everything over again for each new page.

Text:
Go very sparingly on the headline typefaces.
Use the normal typeface instead.   It looks more modest.   There is such a thing as overkill.

Links:
The power of the Web is its ability to link to any other page in the world. But be very careful. You’ve just got the customer in your store. Don’t quickly send him away. Resist your impulse to show off your knowledge of cool sites until you’ve got your customer’s name, address, and hopefully his order. This is business.

Image maps:
Image maps combined with customized computer art.
The customer clicks on the subject in the graphic which interests him or her. Image maps are cool, but start to get expensive, since they take more programming skill, and require a special interface with your host computer. I do not encourage image maps because they take to long to load.

Clickable thumbnail images:
You  show the picture in a thumbnail size image. If the customer is interested he or she can click on it to display the larger photo. You can also give the image size, such as 57K, If a customer has decided he wants to see the picture, he will be more tolerant of the time it takes to load. A thumbnail image gives him control. Even so try to keep images below 30k for faster loading.

Promotion:
Send brief “press release” announcements to services which announce “what’s new” on the Internet.   You just might hit it lucky and have hundreds of people see the announcement and flock to your site — if you’re selected for the weekly “scout report.”   You can send these announcements, or have your Web designer do it for you.

Print your website address or URL on all your display ads,  literature,  stationery, flyers, business cards, brochures, letterhead, fax cover sheets, yellow page,  newspaper, radio, and TV ads.  Promotional novelties such as mouse  pads, pencils, bumper stickers, etc., are all great places to stamp your URL.  The possibilities  are endless. This will attract customers to your site to learn more about your business and your products.

Convenience:
Make it easy for your visitors to find what they're looking for and place their order or contact you. If you have an 800 number position it prominently on every  page. Same for your e-mail or "contact us" buttons.

Include a "return to home" button on every page of your  site. Often visitors link over from a search engine to one  of your sub pages - instead of your sites main page.

If you have a FREE offer of any kind  - say so, OFTEN! Our  culture (and the Internet in particular) values FREE offers  and they do stimulate response.
 

Keep your Web designer on a retainer:
Price changes
Product changes
Adding pages to describe other parts of your business
Updating links which have become obsolete
Updating images
Re-doing the “look” of your pages when your spouse grows tired of it.

Keep your Web designer on a retainer to maintain your pages monthly or as needed. This saves you or your people from having to become experts on HTML.
Your Web designer becomes part of your team without being on your payroll; hire him or her as an outside contractor.

Community:
The word "community" is popping up all over the Internet these days, meaning different things to different people. Generally, community means the same thing in cyberspace as it does in the physical world…a group of like-minded people who have gathered together to conduct business, develop relationships, or learn from each other. When you think of it in those terms, it becomes obvious why community is such a key component of successful websites! A dynamic community means increased traffic, more intense loyalty, and stronger bonds between you and your visitors. Learn more about why community tools are important…

Give users benefits from spending time on your site,  allow them to do business with you, and their money will follow.

E-mail newsletters and other "opt-in" e-mail

"Capturing" a visitors e-mail address can be extremely   valuable to your online success. With "opt-in" email,   visitors actually ask to be put on a list and receive future   mailings direct from you.

Start a newsletter that folks subscribe to, a FREE report   that they must request, or other valuable content that   requires user registration to receive.

Don't make them fill out a long form - all you want is   their e-mail address.

Next time you have a new product to announce, a sale or  other special promotion, you have a ready list of  excellent prospects that have asked to hear from you.