Limit the number of background colors and fonts that you use. A web-safe color chart will help you pick your colors. Blue to set off the title bar at the top of the page. Beige to set off the contents frame. White for the frame with text.
Most people are accustomed to reading black text on a white background.
This is why most of the big boys use white as their primary background. Feel free to try out other colors, but make sure the text is easy to read. Nothing will send a surfer packing faster than hard to read text. Sometimes I will use a different font for headings, but this time I didn't. If you start using multiple fonts, the page will look busy.