This article is not about the practical designing of your website. It will help you avoid many of the common mistakes that  expert website designers make. Whether you are going to design a website yourself, or contract  a design consultant, there are several key elements to good website design that you (or your website designer) need to work to.

The most important part of your website is the index page also referred to the home page - this is the main page of your website which your website visitors will see when they first visit your website. If the main page of the website is right no one is bothered about the other pages of the website.

Think of your web design front page as a book cover if it is attractive people will be interested to know more or read more what is in your website. If the front page has problems no one will dare to open or visit the other pages of the website no matter what price you are selling your products in. If the  front page as the cover of a book, and the Web as a giant book store. Most of the people in the store are there to browse around for a while, either not sure of what they want or just passing their time. They will never  pick up the first book they see and start reading it, but they will glance at the book covers until something catches their attention. Once some thing catches their attention they will start to scroll through the book and will start to read various articles. If that still retains their interest, they may then actually open the book. By this time they must have glanced at the covers of two or three dozen books and read the back covers of another dozen.

Then they will read a few paras here and there and then they will probably put the book back on its  shelf and continue browsing and looking for other interesting books. Eventually they may buy and read one of the many books they have glanced at.

This is like many of the browsers on the Web. They will surf through many sites before stopping long enough to navigate through one particular site. Even then they will probably leave before buying anything. It would be an achievement for you if they go as far as adding your site to their favorites list!

People say that when some one has come on a website he is definitely interested in some thing and looking for something and when he finds that something he will definitely buy or place and order for that item. Internet world does not work like that. People browse WebPages during their free time and most of them without keeping anything specific thing it mind. Once they find something attractive it builds an interest in them and they start to search more for that product and eventually make a purchase. " But," I hear you all saying, "when visitors come to my site, it is because they are interested in the product/service/information that I offer so they will stay." this is completely a wrong concept and should be ignored.

Lets go back to the example of a  Book Store. Say you were to visit a book store with the specific intention of buying a book on Web Site Marketing, and you had an idea of the book you wanted because a friend had recommended it. You would go to the computer shelves, find the book you were looking for and pick it up and glance through it. Definitely you will not buy a book  purely on your friends recommendation.

If after having a look you found that the recommended book was poorly designed and you didn't like the way it was written, would you still buy that book?

So you see, even if visitors have gone to your site because they were interested in what you have to offer, it is by no means certain that they will make a purchase

OK, so now, I hope, you appreciate the need for good web site design.

The following items will help you to design a website  that your customers will find very attractive and will stay at for at least a couple of  minutes! I would definitely recommend that you list these special points and ensure that they are properly followed - especially if you are paying someone else to design the a website for you  - make sure you get the website that will work for you - not one that shows what clever web designers they are!

Downloads Quickly - Your website should be designed in a certain way that it is really quick to download. If a  website takes ages to download chances are customer will move on to the next available website which is quick and easy to view

Easy to Read - don't use a heavy background or lots of colors in your website design - it might look pretty but people wont strain their eyes trying to read a red text on a purple background.  I have seen that on a web site of a company trying to sell a web design service - I could hardly read it I left and have never been back to that website . Black or dark blue on white is usually best for the main body text.

Make it Clear - clearly show your website visitors a virtual path of what you want them to do. show your visitors exactly what they have to do to navigate your site/obtain information/buy goods etc. Don't leave them thinking what to do next on your website. Proper navigation will boost your sales.

Build Confidence - On the internet there are millions of sellers and what will distinguish you from other sellers if trust. The biggest problem on the internet is that people don't trust one another. They probably don't know you, so build confidence in your corporate website design. This could only be done if you have a really impressive website which ranks high in searches. If your website design is giving a doggy look its time for you to change your website designer .Your can further increase trust by displaying your local address and phone numbers so people can easily reach you to verify that your business exists. Also you can do this by having an "About Us" page, contact information, site security information (if you are taking credit card details), testimonials, a FAQ page if appropriate (Frequently Asked Questions).

Keep Banners to a Minimum - Banners are the worst thing any visitor will like. Banners might generate a very small income for you but on the other end will take your customer away from you at a cost of few cents a click. You have spent your fortune to get this customer and you have just sold him for few cents by displaying a banner ad. particularly on your website pages - people either don't like them, ignore them, or worse still, click on them and leave your site!

Ensure Visitors can Navigate very Easily - at a minimum, have a top of page link at the bottom of every page that is longer than the visitor can see at normal browser settings, and have a home page link on every page. Don't send visitors down a cul-de-sac with no obvious way out. Yes, I know they can use the back button on their browsers, but it is surprising how many people do not and will simply exit your site if it is unclear where to go next.

How Do I Buy? - if you are selling goods directly from your site, make it crystal clear to visitors how to buy.

Build up a Database of Customers - collect their e-mail addresses (getting permission to contact them in the future). This can be accomplished by the use of surveys, questionnaires, a quiz, or asking them to sign up to a newsletter.

I trust that the above tips will help you in designing a web site that will not only look good but, more importantly, make visitors want to look at the remainder of your site