what to do? http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/design
1. Ask yourself, "What is the point of the site?" Are you trying to sell t-shirts, promoting a film, making a site for your cat photos, what are you making the site for? Think hard about this one. Why put energy into something that people don't want to see or know about. Be aware that though the net seems private when you are at home, but isn't. It's about communication and information.
2. Next. Try to figure out who the audience is for your site. Who do you intend to see it and what should they get from it?
3. And do some research as to what is already out there.
Find a few sites that are doing or trying to do what you are doing and analyze them a bit. Figure out if they are meeting the needs of the sites intention. This is definitely useful for working with clients. For example, if it's for a music site, you can tell them that it should have the look of mtv.com or matadorrecords.com.
4. Think about the technology you will need, what type of media will you be showing, what plug-ins will you need. Does it need to load fast on a 56k modem or will most of your users have a faster connection.