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When designing a website it is important to remember that it needs to be both functional and appealing to the eye. Use colors that match and are easy to read. Always make the font black, navy blue or another dark color. Avoid neon colors and pale colors when it comes to text.

Be sure that the over all color and design of your website matches your branding. You do not want your website to have one color scheme and your business cards and Twitter page to have another. Consistency is key.

Always place prominent lead capture forms on your website. Encourage prospects to fill out the form to find out more information about products and services. This is a great way to get warm sales leads. You can also add surveys or newsletter sign-ups to your site as well.

Make sure to limit the amount of photos and images on your website. Too many images can make your site look cluttered. Content is king when it comes to websites and is much more important than photos. Using relevant text rich in keywords can get more traffic to your page through popular search engines. When you do select photos, make sure to code them properly so that keywords appear in the HTML.

Be cautious about using Java and other fancy moving images on your website. Although these applications can look impressive, some users may not have the proper programs installed to use them and the moving image that you worked so hard to design will just show up as a big, red X.