How Not to Design Your Site
www.webpagesthatsuck.com gives excellent examples of how not to design your site, including articles relating to not having your home page start with a game in order to enter and the importance of contrast between the background and text.This is extremely important. A lingerie site that has a mauve background and pink text makes it impossible to read, and consumers will click somewhere else, after all, there are literally hundreds of other sites to choose from, so make sure anyone who hits your site sees what they want-or something truly intriguing-immediately so that they will want to stay. Also, it is not better to be cute than useful. If your website is a free gaming site, none of what I've said matters; knock yourself out. But if you are trying to sell a product, convey useful information, or attract serious surfers who will bookmark your site, do not make every page have a different theme, and do not have little floating icons, they are annoying.
Also important: Make sure the home page name and tag line make sense and that whomever hits it will know what it's about in under five seconds. Vague homepages are annoying and your surfers will catch another wave.
A good and truly professional web designer will be able to increase your revenue, bring in more customers, reduce expenses, and make your customers want to tell others about your website. If they can answer these questions to your satisfaction and create a website that will generate customers rather than bad reviews on designer blogs, you've got your self a professional.
