Your Home Page's Three Seconds of Fame
When developing a new website, you should consider a lot of things: design, search engine optimization, script installation, copy, etc.
However, your home page, the one your visitors will see the first time when entering your site, is the one that requires the most attention and detail. You have between three to five seconds to capture your visitor's attention before she/he decides if it's worth spending any more time with you or move on to your competitor's site.