Take advantage of all of your pages: When creating your website, there shouldn’t be any wasted space. There’s no need for it, it does no benefit for you or your users. So, when designing your site keep in mind of the entire space of your layout.

If you create a new section, see how that’s going to effect the rest of your layout. If it leaves a monstrous gap somewhere else you might want to rethink what you’re doing.

Keep It Classy: You want to know the easiest way to find a trustworthy car dealership? Take a look at how they’re advertising their car lot. If they’re using inflatable wacky arm dolls, then it’s safe to say you’re looking at a pretty sleazy joint. If you find a place that presents their deals in a coherent and eye pleasing manner, you’ve found a place worth checking out.

This idea translates into the online world. If someone opens your site, and the first thing they see is a scrolling marquee with 50 different blinking colors, they’re going to click the big red ‘X’. So, keep it simple and make sure you’re engaging your users on a real level. You need to give your users some credit in knowing what they want.

Some say that imitation is the laziest form of being creative. I like to think that for websites this idea takes a backseat. There’s nothing wrong with using templates as a chassis for designing your own.

Here are some great places to look for some nice looking site templates:

Template Monster

Free Website Templates

Website Templates.com

Templates Factory

Template World