Some tips in alphabetical order (a-w) to consider when creating your web site :

Accessability
Check out the guidelines established to provide web developers with strategies to ensure equality of access to information, irrespective of any possible impairment (eg visual, auditory and cognitive limitations):
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) - especially look at interactive elements such as web forms.
Australian Government's Web Accessibility Guidelines National Transition Strategy released in June 2010.
Accessibility can no longer be considered optional.
Find out who is responsible for website compliance requirements in your organisation.
Find out the cost of non-compliance (risk management).
Avoid the hefty fines arising from complaints upheld by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Test the site with screen -reading software eg JAWS (Conway, 2011, p15).
Also check out "Accessibility, Universal Design, Web Usability & Assistive Technology" LibGuide from Uni of Hawaii, Manoa.

Audience
Find out who your web site audience will be first, before creating your web site.
One of the most important information architecture (IA) principles is to base your IA on the users or audience requirements for the web page and regularly seek feedback to ensure that the web site meets their needs.
Focus groups can provide feedback on the web site ideas and designs. However, it is not the same as a usability test where an individual is shown a web site and tries to do a typical task. Steve Krug (who is an expert in web usability) points out this important difference (Krug, 2000, p141).

Audit
The Australian Government's Web Accessibility Guidelines National Transition Strategy released in June 2010 identifies the auditing of web sites as the first step in its work-plan (Conway, 2011, p15).

Checklist
Check off a list of web site tasks before uploading a web site for public viewing such as the Australian Government Better Practice Checklists (Australian Government Department of Finance and Deregulation, 2010) and the checklists A-K in the Appendices of R. and E. Evenden(2003).

Content management system (cms)
Evaluate a cms before creating you web site to manage the content or information on your web site. Content management software is used in a content management system (cms) and is described as "software that manages workflow from content authoring to editing to publishing" (Morville & Rosenfeld, 2007, p358). A content management system (cms) is a system that facilitates “the creation, management and delivery of information (content and documents), typically via corporate websites, portals, extranets or intranets”(Elcom, 2011). A cms can be an open source system (free) eg Wordpress and Drupal or a proprietary cms software package which can be purchased from the supplier eg Springer LibGuides, Dreamweaver4, Autonomy Interwoven Teamsite and Adobe’s Business Catalyst.

Information architecture
Information architecture (IA) involves structuring and organising information on websites to enable your users to find the information they want. Information architecture is vital to a well-designed site, and should aim to be intuitive and natural for the target audience. Because different users have varying needs and behaviours online, sites need to accommodate these needs and behaviours (Australian Government Information Management Office, 2010).
Another definition is "Information architecture is about organizing and simplifying information, designing, integrating and aggregating information spaces/systems; creating ways for people to find, understand, exchange and manage information; and, therefore, stay on top of information and make right decisions" (Wei, p2, 2010).

Jargon
Use simple word descriptions free of jargon.

Legal Obligations
Check that your web site is accessible to people with a disability and find out the cost of non-compliance (risk management) to avoid the hefty fines arising from complaints upheld by the Australian Human Rights Commission (Conway, 2011, p15).
Check the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (and amendments), to make sure copyright is not violated.
Check Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 No 133 (NSW) to make sure privacy regulations are adherred to.

Metadata
Check out the Australian Government Locator Service (AGLS) Metadata Standard which is a set of descriptive properties which government departments and agencies use to improve visibility and availability of online resources. AGLS is published as Australian Standard (AS) 5044-2010 and takes into account changes to the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) in January 2008 (Australian Government Department of Finance and Deregulation,2010).

Mobile technologies
Assess whether you want to include mobile technologies which are increasingly used to access web sites. Mobile technology is a collective term used to describe the various types of cellular communication technology using smartphone operating systems.

Navigation
Enable easy access to pages within a web site including left-side, horizontal and vertical navigation, drop-downs, breadcrumb trails and in-page hyperlinks. Types of navigation include global, local, contextual and supplemental (Australian Government Department of Finance and Deregulation, 2010).
Steve Krug recommends using web navigation conventions to locate them faster and to distinguish them from other stuff on the web site (Krug, 2000, p60).

Organisation systems
Use efficient labelling and representation to find information to questions on a web site (Rosenfeld & Morville, 2002, p50).

Portal
Consider using a portal which can also be described as a starting point that makes information available to a designated audience by passing through the one point.

Project management
When creating a new web site use project mangement skills to help achieve a succssful outcome (Reiss,2000).
Project management is one of the nine pillars of successful web teams (Garrett,2003).

Risk management
Check legal obligations required for the web site including accessibility and the cost of non-compliance to avoid the hefty fines arising from possible complaints upheld by the Australian Human Rights Commission (Conway, 2011, p15), copyright and privacy regulations.

Search systems
Use effective search systems to find or retrieve information on web sites quickly and efficiently (Rosenfeld & Morville, 2002, p132).

Software
Take a look at Bob Wiggin's 2004 article, "Specifying and Procuring Software," in Information architecture: Designing environments for purpose. Edited by Alan Gilchrist and Barry Mahon. New York: Neal-Schuman, 69-85 and Australian Government Department of Finance and Deregulation, 2010.

Testing
Test the site before making it publicly available. You can also test how users use the web site and use card sorting techniques.

Useability
Check that your web site is accessible to people with a disability and find out the cost of non-compliance (risk management) to avoid the hefty fines arising from complaints upheld by the Australian Human Rights Commission (Conway, 2011, p15).
Steve Krug recommends getting rid of excessive words in a web site to improve usability by making the page shorter, reducing the noise level of a page, and useful content becomes more prominent (Krug, 2000, p45).

Web 2.0
Interaction, collaboration and shared social space on the internet including social networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook.