These tips are all important things to consider when you're making a site. If you want people to keep coming back to your site and enjoying it, you should keep these in mind.
Just like in real life, the internet has trends. When one site does something, everyone else wants to do it as well. It's hard to think of original ideas, but it's possible. Having content that no one else has is something that attracts visitors and overall makes your site better.
So what do visitors like to see? Graphics are good for beginners to use on their sites, as well as other graphics for personal use like desktops and icons. It's always good to see something interactive that people can take part in, like a contest or a page on peoples' opinions. Tutorials are good, especially when it's an effect that isn't common and all over other sites.
When you're trying to think of a site name, don't go overboard with trying to make it original because it might just sound stupid. For example, something like "Banana Flaws" or "Trashy Sparkle Cupcake" is definitely original, but in a bad way. I wouldn't click a link to a site with a name that makes no sense at all.
You don't need to have a million pages of content on your site, as long as there's a good amount to keep your visitors busy. =) It's better to have 40 pages of good content than 100 pages of boring, ugly graphics.
It takes a while to make your site good quality, so the main thing you shouldn't do is to rush through everything. Take your time on your content. If the graphics look like they took 20 seconds to make and the tutorials don't make sense, people won't want to come back to your site.
You should also update your site every so often so people don't get bored with the same old stuff. Don't feel pressured to update a lot. When you update is completely up to you. You have a life outside of the computer too (well hopefully, lol) so you shouldn't feel like you're being forced to update. Your site should be a hobby, not a chore.
You should always make sure your layout is coded properly. If it doesn't work in a certain browser, it brings down the quality of your site and you can lose visitors. If your coding looks fine in IE, that doesn't mean that it's going to work in every other browser as well. If you use iframes, make sure they're coded properly so that they are centered in every resolution, not just yours. Check out my iframe tutorials if you need the code.
If you show that you have a good personality, it makes your site seem more inviting. Let's say you have a splash page and before you can enter the site, it says stuff like, "Link me back if you use my graphics or I'll track you down, come to your house and eat your toenails" people will probably be turned away. If you have your screen name up on your site, don't yell at people when they IM you. Be friendly ^_^
One thing that can ruin your reputation and what people think of you is stealing. Stealing, direct linking, and redistributing other people's work can get you in trouble and your site shut down immediately. Unless you want people to think of you with disgust for all the stuff you've stolen, make your own content and graphics and credit other sites for things you use.
Do...
- use image mapping or divide your site into sections if you have a lot of content. If you have a menu that scrolls on and on forever, it makes it harder to find what the visitor is looking for.
- test your site in other browsers to make sure your coding works.
- update your site. No one likes going to a dead site that hasn't been updated in 2 months and has had the same layout for years.
Don't...
- use a splash page on your site unless you're on hiatus or there's something really important you need your visitors to see. Having just an enter sign is pointless, and having a splash page covered in a million and a half buttons and a tagboard is even worse. People don't want to wait for all of the extra stuff on your main page to load, just to click a link to get into your site. Also, they're most likely not going to sign a tagboard until they've actually seen the site.
- use requirements like "PHP" or "IE/Firefox/etc". PHP is not a requirement, it's something that your host allows. If you can't code your site to work in both IE and Firefox [or other browsers] you should fix it or you'll lose visitors. If you need to you can say "Site best viewed in IE", etc. but don't try to make your visitors switch their browser, because they most likely won't.
- have menus full of buttons. If you just have a few that's fine, but a menu filled with 50 flashy animated affiliate buttons just hurts people's eyes. If you have a lot of links, use text links instead.
- add too many ads or popups to your site. If you need to make money through your site one ad per page is fine. But when you have ads covering up your layout and 10 popups on every page, people will get annoyed and leave.