[undoware]

In all seriousness -- don't. At least, not unless you have a major website to design. There are just too many excellent ready-made options these days. Instead, hire a usability expert. Usability is what actually gets you returning business. (Disclosure: I work in UX.)

No one uses a website because it's pretty. Everyone uses a website because it's useful. It's a testament to human superficiality that in 2013, there is still such a thing as a 'web designer' for sites smaller than 20,000 uniques a month, while many of these same sites (and many much larger sites!) are usability nightmares.

Hiring a designer when you don't have a UX consultant is like sending interior designers to Louisiana after Katrina: nice, but it would be even nicer to get the levees rebuilt, hmm?

(Sorry, I'm on a bit of a rant; I hope it is informative enough to justify its irate voice. Allow me to continue just a bit longer.)

Do you have a tailor make your jeans? No. Do you have a haberdasher dash your hats? No. Do you have a cobbler hand-cobble your shoes? .... So why are you paying someone to put e-lipstick on what might very well be a www-pig?

So, go to useit.com and read up about usability, and then hire a UX (user experience, or usability) expert. Go get yourself a website that works as good as it looks. Because you deserve it --- and so do your visitors.

[undoware]

Also, just to clarify: good user interfaces are tested. Their creators collect empirical data. This is what separates visual design from UX. UX (user experience) is testable, and you can get hard data, distribution curves, and confidence intervals. Anything less should make you feel.... unconfident. At least, for an interval. ;)