The majority of people still download via a 56k modem; that means a download speed of 4k per second or less. So if your home page is 100k, then most users will be hitting the Back button before those 25+ long seconds have passed.

I aim to bring every page in under 50k. Jakob Nielsen, the usability guru, talks about the ideal download time being one where you would notice no appreciable delay in downloading - that is, a sub one-second download time.

This page is under 7k.

Next to download time, intuitive navigation is the most important usability issue: if users cannot find their way around your site, they'll just hit the Back button.

So, what does 'intuitive navigation' mean? Simply that your site's navigation (and links) are organized in such a way that there are no surprises for the user: they don't have to guess where it is they want to go, and they don't get confused by any inconsistencies.

This also means that none of the content should cause confusion either. Basically, the whole site, everything in it, should be optimized to provide the user with a pain-free seamless experience of your site. And this is no easy task. It takes experience, hard work and skill. It's what we do best.

My goal is to design your site with ease of use in mind: to guide the user easily towards what they came to the site for.

Writing effective copy is the name of the game: And when you know who your users are and what they want, then you can build an effective site.

Effective website copy is concise, clear, entertaining; it builds trust, it satisfies search engines (through the use of the right keywords and phrases, in the right density). And the graphics you use, the images, the layout of the site and the navigation - they should logically support that copy.

So, what do you need to do? Hand your rough copy over and let's discuss what you want to convey, and then I'll go away and do what I do.