What is the best way to identify snakes?

[Praireboyfarmer]

When I had captured my Praire Kingsnake (Which do to negligence on my part got loose in my rickety old house and probably found it's way outside) I had a very hard time identifying it due to the variation in patterns and how similar these snakes could look to one another.

With arachnids (My cup of tea) the best way to get a "general" identification is to look at it's eyes first; patterns, size, body, etc. second. Especially if it's a species you're not familiar with. This won't tell you the exact type but will give you a good idea of where to start looking.

Now is there anything like this with snakes? What traits do you look for first? Especially with juveniles who may not have the distinctive characteristics. What is the best way to get a general idea of what you're looking at without just being really familiar and experienced?

You hear horror stories occasionally about people misidentifying animals like snakes and spiders (Which I don't intent to start catching and messing with snakes willy nilly) so how do the experts do it?