With all of the web based editors out there, it's fairly easy to construct a basic startup site. Not that it will probably be the best website in terms of functionality, design, SEO or coding, but for many this is a great way to save some money and begin your internet presence.

However, there are some things to consider pertaining to the design, functionality and that may help your SEO.

Basic rules for layout and design:
Foundation of the Site

1. Choose Page Titles, Description and Keywords carefully. This will help search engines to find you. Don't leave the top of the page title saying "Welcome" or "Home" this doesn't tell the search engines anything essential about your site.

2. Keep Navigation User-Friendly. Make sure you have a top or side menu on ALL pages.

3. Keep links to a minimum. Having over a hundred links per page can increase the possibility of your site being viewed as spam.

4. Minimize scrolling. No one likes the page that scrolls on and on.

5. Write for the web. Keep things as short and sweet as possible. Use bullet points and subheadings for readers to quickly scan text.

Images

1. No clip art, animated gifs or scrolling banner elements. These are VERY outdated and even back in the day weren't cool.

2. All images need to be optimized for web. Don't put a 16x32 inch photo in and try to resize it down to 3 x4 inches. Your visitors will hate you - especially if they are on dialup.

3. Don't use Flash. Regardless of how cool it looks, much of the text is embedded in the video file and therefore cannot be "read" by search engines. Only recently, Google is now capable of reading Flash technology, but other Search Engines cannot.

Text

1. Choose a Standard Font. In the World Wide Web, text that displays properly on your screen is limited to standards fonts that EVERY computer has in common. This is a basic list:
a. Arial (sans-serif)
b. Courier (serif)
c. Geneva (serif)
d. Georgia (serif)
e. Verdana (sans-serif)
f. Tahoma (sans-serif)
g. Times (serif)

2. To make matters worse, serif fonts don't display as well due to the lack of resolution on monitors. Therefore, for clarity purposes, most fonts for website body copy should be a sans-serif font.

3. Should you decide to NOT use a standard font, the person viewing your website will not see the site as it may have been designed, and will default to whatever their browser default font is. What this means is, if you decide to use Papyrus font for your website text (cringing), and if I were to view your website and my computer doesn't have Papyrus font, it will default to what my browser default font is (Verdana). While this may not sound like a big deal, it could be if you have forced returns or have set your Papyrus font to a very large size to compensate for legibility.

4. DON'T USE ALL CAPS. DO YOUR VISITOR A FAVOR AND USE UPPER AND LOWER CASE - AND NOT ALL CAPITALS. IT'S PROVEN THE WAY WE READ ENGLISH LETTERS IS MOSTLY RECOGNITION OF THE SHAPES OF WORDS. In all caps you lose that, thus slowing down your reader and giving the impression you are yelling at them.

5. Don't underline text. People will think they are links. Use bold OR italics - Not bold AND italics. One is sufficient.

6. Use standard size fonts for the body copy (10 or 12pt), unless your site is intended for Senior Citizens or those with visual impairments.

7. Don't copy text directly from Microsoft Word and paste it into your document. Word uses hidden formatting code that leaves tons of extraneous code in your HTML and confuses search engines.

Got anymore tips for do-it-yourself or amateur website builders? Feel free to leave them here.

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