Something i see a lot is, the people in the decision making process (I.e. the board, management or marketing folk) seem to focus their efforts in the wrong place. More often than not it’s the visual aspect of building a website that gets all the attention. It’s not uncommon for a web project to grind to a halt until the visuals are approved. If you pitch for work you can win / loose jobs based purely on visuals. User interaction and content are almost supplementary.

If you think about it, people will only visit a website if they have a reason too (content), they will only stay on your website if they can find what their looking for quickly and with little, or no, effort (usability).

Keeping that in mind, Look at some of the most popular websites on the internet today and REALLY consider the way they look (would you settle for these designs for your website)…

www.amazon.co.uk
www.ebay.co.uk
www.google.co.uk
www.wikipedia.org

Now, if your thinking “hmmmm, how much of an effect do the visuals have over making that sale?” then maybe you should be looking at how to improve your content and the usability of your site rather than what it looks like.

I can only agree with Keith, too. Content comes first, then comes visuals. You don’t visit a website for its beauty, but for what you can get from it.