First impressions matter. Website design is important: make it simple to use and make it easy for people to do what you want them to do.

The web is a low trust zone. Show trust and build trust. If you are a client-facing business, include a photo of yourself, testimonies from happy clients, memberships and accreditations.

Know your competitors. Know their websites. If you want to brainstorm on web design ideas, pick 5-10 competitors, print out their website home pages, stick them on the wall and ask your friends and colleagues which they prefer, which they would use and why.

Show your value. In what way are you better than your competitors? Communicate this clearly throughout your website.

Usability. If your site has multiple pages, you should assume that approximately 50% of the visitors to your site will not arrive first to the 'index' (home) page. So make sure your internal pages contain navigation options that help the site visitor find everything they need on the site, including how to contact you, or conduct a transaction, as the case may be.

Measure. Install Google Analytics (free) and see how successful your site is and ensure the important indicators (i.e. bounce rate, unique visitors, 'goals' achieved, most popular pages) are trending appropriately. Most importantly, measure how many people contact you through your website (phone or contact form) so that you can easily see if you are generating business and value for your investment (in the website). Do the math. With a good web traffic analysis program you should be able to calculate return on investment, lifetime value of your clients and customer acquisition costs.

Location, location, location. If your business is local by nature, then get listed in Google Places and Yahoo/Bing Local. And get your clients to write amazing reviews, which can be difficult but very much worth it.

Links to your site influence search engine ranking and traffic. Use OpenSiteExplorer.org (free) to see who links to your competitors. Then, go after those links. Then get more links. Don't be cheap and don't cheat (i.e. spammy link exchanges, etc). Make your site linkworthy by publishing something unique, useful and/or entertaining. Links that are cheap or obtained by dubious means can actually work but are not worth the risk, and there is significant risk. Read more on linkbuilding risks.

Link building. See what links and promotional opportunities are available from local websites, friends, local bloggers, twitters, facebook pages, business organizations and public institutions.

Client connections count. Relationships matter. Offer a referral commission to your existing clients so that they recommend you to their friends and networks.

Ready to get started? Create your free Google account and see more details here on how to start your website with just $10. If you need more help, please feel free to contact us on the form to the right about web design for SEO.