Remember the image that you want to project with your page or site. You strive for professionalism in your logo, stationery, presentations and other aspects of your business. Don't blow it on your site. Don't put anything up on your site that you wouldn't put in a newspaper advertisement.

There are many reliable services that can construct a simple page for you that will do just fine for a web presence. Always remember that the surfer is looking for information about you and your services. Bells and whistles (animated gifs and midi files) can always be added after solid content is written.

Before you even start writing code, look at several web sites by similar small businesses, the more the better. Write down what you like and what you don't. Use this information as a starting point when designing your site. What features irritate you will probably irritate a surfer.

If you are building your site yourself and are a beginner, there are several books in the stores for learning "how-to". Good ones will explain everything about web site design, including how to name your files. Checking them out of the library will give you a chance to decide which one suits you best before you buy it. Some titles are:

HTML 4 for the World Wide Web, Fourth Edition: Visual Quickstart Guide by Elizabeth Castro, HTML 4 for Dummies by Ed Tittler & Stephen Nelson James (includes CD-ROM), Creating Web Pages for Dummies, Third Edition by Bud Smith & Arthur Bebak (includes CD-ROM)

There are many pitfalls with designing a web page or site but here are the most common:

Too many animated gif files. Background sound that is slow to download and plays too long. Background image/color that renders text unreadable Pages that look good as HTML but don't print well. Pages that are too long

Animated gifs: A graphic file that contains several images that are displayed in a sequence either as a "slide show" or to approximate motion.

These files add motion and interest to a web page. However, for every such file on the page, time is added for the loading of each frame of the animation. Some animations have several frames, essential for smooth motion. Too many animated gifs take up too much time to load and if there isn't enough content to keep the surfer's interest, they will leave the page before all the gifs load. There are also programs available to help compress (make smaller) gifs and jpgs.

Background sound: A wav or midi file that downloads to the surfer's computer and plays while the page is being viewed.

Music does add a nice touch to a web site. However, again, it can be a huge file that can take a while to download. And, again, if there isn't enough content, the surfer may leave before the first note even plays. Also, be careful when selecting your file and how many times it is to play. If it's too irritating, the surfer will either disable it or not return to your site.

Background image/color: A tiled (repeated over an area) image or a single color that is used to fill the browser space with the text displayed over it.

Let's face it, gray can be very drab. And we don't like to be drab. Colors and images used for the background are excellent for adding some pizzazz to a site. However, once again, don't forget that information must be legible to be useful. There are background images that look very sharp until you try to read text on them! Choosing a good contrasting color can rescue that really cool image that you are dying to use. Be aware that monitors are getting better. The background that is designed for a 640x480 screen will look good for that resolution but may look odd if not unreadable on a 1024x768 screen. On the other hand, you can only pick a median range of resolution (usually 800x600) and hope for the best.

PDF Downloads: A file that is printable on most printers and is downloaded for that purpose. It can also be viewed with a "reader" program.

This is excellent for a file that you have prepared to be a handout in a word-processing program and decide to save as HTML to display on your site. This method is also good for a page that will make a good information sheet but has features that may not print well straight from the web. It is better to use Adobe Acrobat Distiller to make a Portable Document File (PDF) so that it can be printed on many different printers. Since it is an expensive program, check with your local copy center such as Kinko's or Pro-Copy or other place where computer access or time can be rented. When a PDF file is used, the layout won't be changed by font unavailability, graphics not being the correct resolution for printing (screen resolution: 72 dpi; printing resolution: at least 300 dpi), or the browser window not being fully open.

Page organization: The method of connecting information with hyperlinks.

There is a method of linking from one part of a page to another. This can be convenient. However, again, if your page is too long, it will take a long time to load and interest will be lost. It's better to have many quick loading pages than a single long page. Your web hosting service charges by total amount of web space used, not by how many files are using the web space.

A good web site can add to a small business. By considering these possible pitfalls, you can build that web site. u