The who, what, and where should be visible in the first screen without scrolling. Make navigating your site simple by making the menu easily available. Consistent and logical navigation makes a difference in how many pages a person will view. Try to break segments of your site into screen size bites so viewers can see the whole thought at once. If a flat dark color is used for the background of your site, use a larger, bolder type face for the text type than would ordinarily be used.
Reverse type is more difficult to read.
Don't put a photo or print background behind text on your site. It makes it hard to read. Promote your site. Don't just stop at letting the search engines know you're online. It's not a bad idea to designate part of your advertising or Web budget for promotion.