Google has released a PDF booklet with some very useful tips on how to improve your website. The guide is written primarily for online businesses and marketers but the tips and findings mentioned in the book are pretty relevant for smaller websites as well.

Excerpts from the book:

• Visitors to your site should be able to see, at a glance, where to search. Consider enlarging your search box or making it more prominent.
• Show visitors a clean and easy to understand homepage which isn’t cluttered and has all relevant information available on the top of the page.
• You want visitors to proceed beyond your homepage. With so many potential routes a visitor could take, make sure they don’t get lost. Options on where to navigate next should be clear and simple e.g. using site search, top/side navigation, and/or product links.
• Assure the visitor that they have landed at the right site - clearly display your brand and any unique selling points. Avoid long introductions as customers will seek this information in the ‘about us’ section.

You may download the PDF from google.co.uk [3.8 MB] or read it online here.