Forum Moderators: open
Client/User/Surfer should never have to say/think "What do I do NOW"
only 1 small point, but makes all the difference, guide them as if you were surfing the site yourself.
Shak
Load time. Not everyone is on DSL/Cable Modem, so keep the images and content within reasonable limits.
No splash pages. Give 'em the relevant data right up front.
Clear, consice and easily navigated material layed out in a logical and forthright manner.
Cross browser viewability is essential. In time, you may also wish to consider PDAs as well as cell-phones.
Until you get the thing up and running, minimalism is paramount.
Nooooooooooo music.
Stay away from annoying banner ads and especially popups/unders.
Use colors that are best suited for the visually impared. Being cautious of brash color schemes like, Red and Black mixes or bright obtrusive colors. Earthtones seem to work best overall.
Be absolutely sure your coding passes validation standards.
No hidden text or links.
Do the right things, and the right traffic will do right by you.
Do the wrong things, and you'll see lotsa one-time visitors and no indications of bookmarking by those visitors.
Oh, and don't worry. There'll most likely be other posters who'll take exception to at least one of these suggestions.
Above all, take what works for you and your intended market and let the rest slide.
Pendanticist.
It is really hard to say you have a general audience. There are some sites that do have a generic audience, but really that is more rare than people want to admit.
If you guide your site to the needs of those who actually use your site, and not just trying to make sure that everyone is going to use it, you will please your audience. Some sites have no need for graphics because the user base may all be using low bandwidth modems, handhelds, visually impaired, or whatever.
That's one reason I love hover behaviors that change the background-color. I've now changed about 7 sites to this kind of hover, and the page-views went up in every case.
