Some areas where you need to focus in designing a website:

Vision – The website should be made with an eye on the future. You should always be ready to scale it up as the need arises without having to redesign it all over. In other words, the design should be able to bear the weight of scalability.

Targeted to its Audience – The design should meet the sensitivities and taste of the audience that it is targeted to; don’t make the mistake of concluding that what is good for you is good for the customer.

Technical Competence – The website should be browser compatible. The World is your market and different people use different browsers and operating systems to access the Internet. An ideal design should enable every person with Internet Access to be able to view your website without difficulty. Of course, it’s never an ideal world, so the “more the merrier” rule holds good here. At the same time, your design should use scripting that minimizes user side dependability so as to provide a uniform experience. Also, the pages should be fast loading for a good user experience.

Ease of Use – You’ll be surprised to know but many of the web surfers are in fact novices who need to be spoon-fed when it comes to understanding basic technical functions. So make sure that your website is designed with such users in mind, making navigation and understanding of your website extremely easy.