Originally Posted by Acorn Studios So my question is... do people in small businesses find themselves more comfortable with a crappy looking business site than an artsy one?

According to one of my web design professors, when a visitor comes to a web page offering services, the more flash and glitter they see the more they "feel" like they are paying for the effects more than the products.

Generally, consumers seem to think that products sell themselves, so yes in a way a crappy to the point plain bland flavorless website tends to make consumers think they do not have to do anything more than show their product. This is according to my professor, and I have to disagree because there is a middle ground. Finding that middle ground is hard sometimes but it has to be done because YOU are responsible for your work as much as they are reasonable for their products.