Factors of a Personal Site
The fact that a lot of people nowadays are opening up teenybooper sites triggered me to write this article. Unless you want to be like them, this would come useful. 
Host
Find yourself a decent host that gives you what you need. I would suggest that you first test the waters at a free webhost. Who told you free hosts suck? Awardspace is a very good place to start! Not only does it give you huge amounts of ad-free space but also PHP and CGI access! Amazing, huh?
Once you think you’re ready for the real thing, apply for subdomain from a domain owner. A lot of domain owners have extra space which they don’t mind sharing. Get What You Give has quite an impressive list of such generous people. I also suggest looking for a host at a forum you’re active in. That way, your host is someone you know and someone you trust.
Are you ready to stand alone in your own space? If that’s the case, then a domain is what you need! Do some research first before purchasing your own domain and space because it is very easy to fall into hosts with huge offers for small prices but turns out to have bad performance. Web Hosting Talk is a very good place to do some research. Hundreds of members share their own experiences with different web hosting companies so you’re guaranteed to find a perfect host for you at the end of the day!
Layout
Your layout is the very first thing that your visitor would notice upon entering your site. More often that not, this is where they draw their first impressions on your site. Make it a point to keep your layouts lightweight, simple and stylish. A 600KB layout with a Beyoncé PSD and grunge brushes all over the place would only make your visitor grab for the nearest bag and barf, no matter how hard you worked on it.
Make sure the colors compliment each other. Remember too keep enough contrast in between colors, but not too much. Imagine looking at #ffffff [a.k.a. white] text and #000000 [a.k.a. black] background. Not much of a treat, right? If you have no idea of which combination of colors to use, Colour Lovers has a big gallery of color schemes available for you to use.
CMS
Believe it or not, the CMS used by a blogger affects me a lot. The CMS used sometimes bring in some extra dignity to you and your site. Whenever I (and I’m sure a lot of other bloggers out there) see a “Content Management Powered by: Cutenews” stamped on your blog footer, I know that, more often than not, that site is teenybooper.
Being able to understand completely a dignified CMS is no small feet. It takes time to unravel and understand the wonders and capabilities of a certain CMS. Before choosing a CMS, check first how safe it is. You can do this by asking some known internet persona or posting on some known, dignified forum. Also make sure that it has what you need and what you’re looking for. If you need a CMS to power your entire site, then, Wordpress, Textpattern and Expression Engine are your best bets. However, if you need something lighter to power only your blog, then, I would recommend Fan Update.
Visitor Content
One of the main reasons why successful sites become successful is because they have contents that many people want and/or need. They provide unique contents that people likes so much; hence, people drool over their sites.
Are you the same? Do you have contents that you think people actually enjoy? If not, start working that lazy ass off! Make some content for your visitors. I know it takes time for you to actually know and provide them with what they like but once you’re able to do so, the rewards are fulfilling!
Blog Content
Good blogs keep people well entertained. Keeping visitors well entertained would make them want to return to your site and look for things that could entertain them. Making people want to return to your site means that you have a pleasing site.
I believe that the blog itself is another important factor of success with regards to your website. Always provide something interesting that your readers would want to read. Now, you might be thinking how much of a hypocrite I am, talking about interesting blogs when I, myself, hardly give out any. The thing is, thinking of an interesting topic is very difficult nowadays because nothing much is original anymore. It’s either someone has done it already, or the whole population of the blogosphere are very familiar with it and mentioning it once more would make them want to quit blogging and head of to a faraway land. But trust me, sooner or later, you’ll find something interesting to write about.
You also have one more option: give out some question/s that is/are somehow related to your blog so that there will be an interesting discussion between you and your readers.