Keep it plane, no ****ty images, keep it sleek and professional, cut down on tables, use CSS instead because it flows a hell of alot more and don't forget to keep it simple...
Don't use web templates, don't use flash unless you can pull it off professionally in which case they can look stunning...
If you're going to make a clan site I suggest you don't code it in plain html so you have to manually update it and instead use a CMS like drupal or wordpress (Wordpress is a piece of blog software but can be hacked up to be a CMS)