One of the best sessions of the first afternoon of Gnomedex was the panel on open source projects with Asa Dotzler (Mozilla), Matt Mullenweg (WordPress), Matt Westervelt (SeattleWireless.net) and Scott Collins (Mozilla). The panel threw out lots of ideas for connecting to your user base, including these tips on designing the product web site:

• include screen shots about the product on the site;
• put the download button on the home page so users don't have to drill down through the site to get to the download;
• include a tagline that tells viewers why they need your software;
• add affiliate tags to your home page;
• get a real designer to design your site (Tip from Matt Westervelt: The best way to get a designer to volunteer to help you is to put up a really bad-looking site.)