How much effort should be put into web design?

Unless you’re a Fortune 500 company, chances are good you don’t have a multi-million dollar website budget. Most website owners find they have to balance their resources between multiple aspects of their site, including: the domain name, web hosting, design, and content. Because it’s the most noticeable part of the site, many people focus too much on web design and don’t pay enough attention to more important areas.

These days, I see a lot of small business websites using Flash or otherwise graphics-intensive templates. While these sites look good, they are often slow to load and lack interesting content. I’ve also seen more than a few promising sites ruined because the owner didn’t pick a good domain.

If you want your site to succeed, pay attention to all aspects of it. You need fast hosting, a good domain, and stellar content. A pretty design is helpful, but not vital if it means diverting resources from other areas. You can put a fresh coat of paint on a broken-down car and it may look nice, but in the end, it’s still a piece of junk. Think of your website in the same way.

Photo | gokoroko