You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but that is what people do. People judge your website by its appearance; good looking websites sell more.
First Impressions
Every one gives a first impression when meeting others. It's the same with websites. When people visit a website for the first time, it gives a first impression. And people judge the site by that first impression. When a site gives a "suspicious" impression, people will conclude it is scam, even though the site truly conducts business in honest manner. If you want to sell, you should design your site to give the proper impression.
Design and Business
So far, it's straightforward. The tricky part is, the impression a particular design gives differs from business to business. For example, a colourful design works well for an apparel store; however, if you use the same colourful design for a financial institution, it might give an "untrustworthy" impression. For such a website, a dark colour scheme would give a "trustworthy" impression. Make sure to think about what kind of design best suits your website.
Quality vs. Impression
Some of you may still think that high quality products sell themselves and "looking good" doesn't have anything to do with selling products. The truth is that high quality products don't sell themselves. Just think about the iPhone. There are number of smart phones with technical features better than the iPhone. Even so, many people prefer the technically less advanced iPhone just because it is "cool." Whether you like it or not, it is not the quality, it is the impression that sells your products.
© March, 2012