If you have website you have to make sure that it is well designed, otherwise it is not going to accomplish what it is supposed to do. You do have a lot of freedom as to what you include in the design of your site but there are some basics that you do have to keep in mind.

The most important feature that you have to have when it comes to web design is that your site has to be easy for people to read. In general that means black text on a light background that is not too small or too big. If your site is not easy to read people are not going to bother trying, they will just move onto another site. You also want to make sure that things are not too cluttered and that there is a lot of white space on your page. The last thing that anybody wants to see is a big block of text when they get to your site. Break it up into relatively short paragraphs.

The other critical feature of a well designed website is that it has to be easy to navigate. Nobody wants to spend time searching your site for what they are looking for and they won't. If people can't find what they are looking for quickly and easily they will just go to another site. Make sure that you have menu that is clear and easy to follow and that your site is structured in a way that makes sense. You also want to make sure that people know where on your site they are and that there is a quick and easy way to get back to the menu.

A well designed website should also load quickly, nobody is going to sit around and wait. A few years ago Flash intros were all the rage in web design because designers thought they looked cool. In reality all they did was irritate their visitors because they had to sit and wait for them to load. Nowadays it is generally accepted that the best approach is to keep your site simple so that it loads quickly and people don't have to wait for it.

The last thing that you have to make sure of when you are designing a website is that it does what it is supposed to do. If a site is supposed to make sales than it should convert visitors into buyers, if it is supposed to get people to sign up for your mailing list it should do that. This after all is the whole point of having a website so it will have little value if it can't do what it is supposed to. There are some important factors that you have to make sure that you include in your design to make sure that this happens, a professional designer should be able to help you with them.