From decades of experience in the web design and development business, my motto is:
"Simple Design (and code), Great Content"
Of course it depends on the business but in general, for most types of businesses, a clean, simple and standard website always outperforms a heavy, "artsy", fancy website. "Outperforms" as in user usability, website integrity (code failing and breaking the site) and management.
Most developers/design shops will try to sell you on all kinds of features and fancy javaScript thingies but 90% of average website visitors could give a crap if a picture "fades in" as you scroll or images "pop into place" when you load the page. Sure, it looks a bit fancy but... big deal. Visitors want a fast loading site that has lots of good pictures, maybe video and "to the point" text with easy navigation... nothing too confusing!
I actually remember an instance many years ago when a client came to a design shop I was working for. The client had huge ideas and wanted to implement all kinds of features for users. It was a super complicated website and cost a lot of money to build. Unfortunately it was too much of a hassle and too confusing for users too, it failed.
Below is an example "Layout" and "Actual Site" which I use consistently through many of my builds. This layout is what most visitors expect when they land on a website... Contact, Menu, Pretty Picture, Info. Therefore they can relate and it is easy for them to use. The most important thing for you, as the website owner, to understand is that although "Layouts" are pretty standard, the pictures and text are what make the website... ie, the content!
Layout
Actual Website
