WEB DESIGN
Know a little more than just how to design a website

It's about marketing
The truth is that effective websites are not about putting up a few pages of text and pictures and hoping. Effective web design is really about marketing.
Whether you are selling online or simply appealing to people to contact you, your website needs to:

look professional
represent your company well
be targeted to your customers
contain the information it needs to contain
be set up logically so that information is findable
be unconfusing and easy to get around
with images and text created not just to present or fill space, but to sell
with forms, shopping carts, databases - whatever's needed
download fast
built to be search-engine friendly
with a promotion package for visibility and exposure

Do I need all that?
That would be up to you. However, commerce is commerce. You need to get attention and convince prospective customers that yours is the company to buy from, hire, whatever. You may as well ask which elements you are willing to forego: good ad copy? an unconfusing website? good design? search engine traffic?
But a website gives you plenty of room to talk to your customers. It can contain many gloriously full-color pages of product information, tutorials, support pages, a history of your company - and even a shopping cart which allows people to order online.

Price isn't everything - or is it?
Not really. It's more important to find a web designer who can produce what is needed to make your website effective. Interestingly, websites - even websites that merely give information - are a combination of advertising, full-scale sales presentation and branding (getting people to know and recognize your name or "brand"), and possibly online store.
Truthfully, it takes a good deal of time, effort, knowledge and experience to build an effective website. But what do you get for your money? Round-the-clock promotion, lead generation and possibly sales.

What else can give you that?