7 Tips for Designing Websites
 

1. Web design is not print design

2. Consistency is key

3. Web users read in an F shaped pattern.

4. Keep your website layout clean and easy to navigate

5. Use CSS not tables

6. Remember the fold

7. Look at web design galleries for inspiration. Some of the best galleries are CSS Beauty, CSS Container, and my favorite - Design Meltdown.

 
3 SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Tips
 
8. Google PageRank considers the quality of your website’s content and relevancy to search terms

9. Search engines analyze the quality of your site by the number of links to your site and how strong the PageRank of sites that link to you are.

10. Relevancy is determined by how dedicated you are to a search term. Prime ways to show strong relevancy are your domain name, how often keywords are included in your content, and title tags.

Helpful Resources for web design beginners:
Web Style Guide - Detailed intro to designing professional layouts
Programming Tutorials - Useful beginner tutorials on HTML, CSS, and a number of other
Best Practices for Title Tags -  Discusses how to brainstorm title tags