Yes, definitely. A well-designed and aesthetically pleasing site adds instant credibility, especially for people who are non-technical (i.e., the people who of

Yes, definitely. A well-designed and aesthetically pleasing site adds instant credibility, especially for people who are non-technical (i.e., the people who often make the final buy/no-buy decision). And it's rare for a strong systems or web back-end programmer to also have a good design sense and to be versed in the various rendering quirks and workarounds for the common browsers. Note that it doesn't mean you have to hire a full-time designer. A lot of designers are freelancers, and like it that way. 37signals' Sortfolio (http://www.sortfolio.com/ http://www.sortfolio.com/) lists a lot of independent designers for a range of budgets.