One thing you must always remember is that you only have a very short period of time in which to “hook” your visitors!
So you need to create a reason for people to stay, immediately. That means creating empathy and arouse interest right away: the tone or feeling that represents you and makes people feel good and interested in your products or services must come through at a glance. This is accomplished with beautiful images, creative typography, colour usage, generous whitespace, and good copywriting, just like a marvelous symphony.