Navigation plays a huge role in your web design. The best way to tackle the way you are going to set out navigation your website is to think like your visitors, if a visitor came to your website he/she is most likely going to read your index page, and decide from there what he/she is going to do next. I would suggest you have a main NavBar on all your pages, this bar should be in the same place on each page, and should contain links to other pages on your website. Make the main NavBar stand out from any other link on the page.
Easy Layout is very important as well. Blank spaces make websites look better, so keep all the focus on the content, and not ads. Use a simple template, and no fonts that won't be picked up by browsers. Times new roman is the best font to use.
Fast Loading is a must. Minimize all graphics and scripts on a your webpage, as this increases the file size largly. Secondly choose a good host with fast servers, and minimum down time (see more on the choosing a good host page). There is nothing worse then slow loading website, as it really puts visitors off from coming back.
Reduced Scrolling is a plus in many ways; it keeps visitors on your website for longer, easier to use, faster loading, visitors think the website is for them. I advise keep pages to a minimun length all the time.
Browser Freindly is key to getting all visitors possible. If your website is not compatible with all browsers you can loose visitors. Check for Internet Explorer 5 +, Mozilla Firefox 1.0, Opera 7.0, and Netscape Navigator 6, as these 95% of the world's browsers.