1. Loading time:

=try to be below 20kb
=less number of images
=specify height and width of images
=Html with out erros
=WYSIWYG editors load up your html code. so try using text editor part of your html editors instead of visual editor

2. Images Only home page:

Say goodbye to images only home pages. Home pages with flash only introductions or only graphics don't attain good ranking in search engines.

3. Content:

Put content that related to your products or a list of your products with some text under them. Don't forget to sprinkle some keywords in that text.

4. Links to your Products:

Make it Easy for your visitor to reach your product pages. Afterall your purpose of setting up a web site is to do few sales. Right? On each page you can use same navigational menu. So your visitor can reach any page on your web site with two clicks.

5. Headings and subheadings:

Highlight your product benefits or services. Put your content as short paragraphs. Beleive it or not, if the matter is like short paragraphs anybody can read whole page instead of a half page singe paragraph.

6. Promotions and sales:

If you are offering any promotional methods on your products like free upgrades for limited time or reduction of price to half for limited time etc, state them bold on your home page. This may make your visitor click on your link and check out your product.

7. Links to Outside domain:

As a rule of thumb, don't put links to other domains from your homepage, unless those are also yours. If you are participating in link exchanges then create seperate folder for link exchanges like yourdomain.com/linkpartners/index.html

8. Pop-ups on Your home page:

Personally I never liked them before and even I don't advice to put pop ups on your web sites. If you do a search on Overture, there are more searches for the term pop-up blockers. So you decide yourself.

These are first 4 terms-(148790 - pop up blocker,65195 - blocker free pop up,53141 - pop up stopper, 47157 - pop up blockers)

If you still love pop ups go for floatingbox that keep a small box that floads at the cornet of your home page.

9. Home page ranking:

Try to stick on to one url in link exchanges or ezine articles. When you do pageranking in Google, all these urls give different pageranking-
yourdomain.com/
yourdomain.com.index.html
www.yourdomain.com/
www.yourdomain.com/index.html

10. Look little professional:

Little professionalism on your home page keeps your visitor few more seconds. And that few more seconds counts a lot to increase of your newsletter sign ups and sales. Little logo, your web site motto, same font, display of your products are only few to say.

Note how good you feel after you have encouraged someone else.  No other argument is necessary to suggest that never miss the opportunity to give encouragement."
-- George Burton Adams