Does your startup need an elegant web presence? Some very simple websites are hugely effective. Take Hearts Brew Beer Supply for example. Hearts has a very simple website: http://www.heartshomebrew.com/ Check it out.

I dropped by Hearts one day and saw order fulfillment as the primary activity going on in their store. Their owner and I talked and he said a greater percentage sales came from their website than from the store!

Parts Guru is another example of a successful web business run with a simple website. The owner and I talked about the site, which he created entirely himself. What's the conclusion? I believe it's form vs function and function wins! http://www.partsguru.com/

I've heard many similar stories. What do we conclude? I believe that the workflow in online product sales is important, just as an elegant web design is ... nice. But, the business can cruise along fine with a simple web presence.

What do you think? Do you have experiences to share that shed light on this subject? We're all ears! Join us at Startup City and post your comments at the discussion here: http://www.codetown.us/group/startupcity/forum/topics/your-startup-...