What follows is advice only but it is based on long practical experience and follows general marketing principles.
Avoid the temptation to add unnecessary content.(“padding”) It only dilutes the main message and distracts visitors from finding what they have come looking for.
State the reason for your site’s existence as clearly as possible and do so on the very first page. Keep the effective business card format in mind and you won’t go far wrong.
Let people know what trade or other service is involved and what is the name this business goes under.
It is also important to give details such as where this activity is carried on and, possibly, what the hours of business are. Let potential customers know how you may be contacted and how doing business with you may be of benefit to them. (The latter matter is often called a tag line and usually consists of a short snappy sentence or two.)
That’s the vital information and to back it up you may add pictures, logos or other graphics as well as lists of services or products and things like special offers or discounts.This back up can be added through Iframes or Flash banners, if appropriate, but the other details need to be presented clearly on the Home page and should remain there throughout a visitor’s stay on your site.
Remember, people come for information and not for entertainment! A distinctive Home page design is advised to capture visitors’ attention but, apart from that, keep the ‘eye candy’ under control!
Offsite links are not a good idea.. The danger of someone following a link to an external site and not returning is considerable. This also applies to Google AdSense marketing. Anything that serves to distract attention from the content of your site is to be avoided if possible.