Web design is an art performed through a very pragmatic medium. The web is an amazing canvas for modern-day artists to work on, and it has attracted a great number of competent professionals as a result and opened a lot of discussion about what constitutes attractive web design. Ultimately, the answer is fairly simple: it depends on what demographics you want your website to attract.
Network Solutions offers e commerce web design services, for instance, and a web designer will have good input about what will serve your site the best. Don’t be afraid to let the web designer design. Making your site attractive is their job. What makes for attractive web design is ultimately left to the eye of the beholder, and a competent web designer will understand that.