Greg Langston

You're on a road-trip and your car's fuel gauge shows empty. You need fuel, you're hungry and you need to use the bathroom.

Down the road you see two gas stations. One looks clean and modern, with a nice big sign and neat landscaping.

The other - it looks pretty rough. Run down, not painted and it just looks old. Which of these stations will get your business?

Most people will choose the clean, modern establishment. The junky place might be okay, but given a choice, most consumers wouldn't be willing to take the chance. In fact I'm willing to pay a little more if it gets me a nice place.

The same logic holds true with your web site.

Consumers will almost always choose to do business with sites that look trustworthy, while avoiding sites that don't.

That's why investing the resources needed to get a professional look almost always pays off - no matter what kind of business you are in. Your site doesn't need to have a lot of clutter to be good. Just look at www.apple.com and www.google.com. Both sites are great in content and simplicity.