I was going through my email recently and came across a message from two guys who send out affiliate tips. In their message, they said that one mistake they had made over the years was worrying about how their sites looked and how looks don’t matter.

Yeah, and if you believe that little pearl of wisdom, then I’m sure I can find a bridge somewhere I can sell ya.

Have you ever been in a forum and saw a post from someone who complained that he was getting traffic but no sales and he asked if the other posters would go to his site and give him some feedback so you clicked on his link and as his site was loading, you took one look and said “Yak!” and knew right away why his site wasn’t attracting any customers?

We’ve all seen them – cheesy-looking sites that just make you want to get away from them… FAST.

Looks DO matter, and not just to potential customers, either. They matter to affiliates, too.

When a potential customer (or an affiliate!) lands on your site, you have seconds – less time than it has taken you to read this single sentence – to grab his or her attention and get them to stick around, and even if the text hasn’t starting loading yet, the look and feel of the site alone can make them hit their “Back” button and go somewhere else.

A site that looks professionally designed makes you feel like what they’re selling is a quality product worthy of your hard-earned money, but what does a site that looks homemade tell you? That the product is crap, that they’ll steal your credit card info and go on a shopping spree on the Home Shopping Network, that you will regret it if you don’t get away from the site NOW,…

If you truly want to succeed online, you have to have a slick, professional-looking site. For less than a lousy 100 bucks, either hire a pro, buy a template or learn to do it yourself.