Your brand wants to stand out right with a drop-dead web site presence. Here are six must do techniques we recommend for effective web site design.

Build your Smartphone-ready site on WordPress: WP powers 20% of all online sites: it’s Open Source, Packed with Features, Improved Monthly, has 10K+ Plugins & Tens of Thousands of Geeks know/love it – save money & get to market faster with WordPress.

Content & Menus Make Millionaires (can’t guarantee the latter) not Glitzy Designs: it’s the boring bloody menus & content that distinguish your site, make it easy for the visitor to understand & drive branding & conversions: sales, leads, bon motes in your blog, social connectivity, etc.

Don’t get lost in the SEO Haze: Five Key Rules: 1) Unique Title & Descriptions on each page (use Yoast or All In One SEO Plugins), 2) Cross Link Pages & Blog, 3) Write Killer Content folks, 4) Blog your Tail off and Share Socially. 5) Setup and Check Google Analytics Weekly.

Don’t be Lame but Don’t be Wild with your Design: half your visitors are coming in via Smartphones & they could care less about your cool design - we tell clients: write snappy content, show some passion, colors, creativity but don’t go crazy (save that for Twitter).

For God’s sake Build a decent Contact Us Page: that bare bones contact us Form – it’s boring kind of like those loud bozos in Starbucks on Smartphones - have 2-3 concise paragraphs about your brand, link to your social media accounts, list the geeky stuff: phone, email addresses, hours of operation, address, fax (DTS).

Grok the Phrase “Above the Fold” when your CEO or Designer says stick those Social Icons, Phone Numbers & Newsletter sign up images at bottom of the page – don’t do it. Remember, those visitors on Smartphones as above– half of them will never scroll down.

Follow these web site design tips to stand out from the crowd, drive conversions and keep your local design agency sane.