Hi!
I was just starting on designing my own site, but I got stuck. I was thinking about what matters most - the visual appeal of the site or the content. CAn someone help me out?
For me looks like both 
But obviously nobody would stay too long on the beautifull 'lorem ipsum" website.
Think about why you go to websites – particularly websites that you go back to again and again. Is it because they look pretty, or is it because they have useful content?
Unless they are looking for design inspiration, nobody spends any great deal of time looking at websites just because of their stunning visual effects. They do go to websites because those sites offer content and functionality that they want. If you can make it look good, so much the better, but the most important thing is to give people a reason to visit your site, to engage with it and to come back to it – and that reason has to be the content/functionality.
Both are extremely important. The visual aspect of your site is what grabs the users attention and keeps them there. Most design is created to guide the user through your content using call to actions and such. The content is what keeps the user interested once you’ve grabbed their attention. It’s important to pay attention to both pieces.
Well… it’s a matter of two sides of the same coin. Every feature matters… Original and useful info, as well as general website look are important. Both should be balanced!
Both are important and both offer a different side of a story.
The visual appeal gives the impression of your site. It will give a lasting thought in the minds of the viewer or user. It also catches the attention of the net surfers.
When they are attached to the visual effect of the site, here comes in the content. The content supports the impression developed in the viewer’s mind:).
You said that well Vampiro.
On my part, what immediately attracts my attention is Title, the Visual part (photos, videos, etc.), then the overall content. I usually, read through the subheadings after the title. And so, I believe that both should significantly be related. I also find it interesting when others use photos with their post/content that ate interestingly catchy because it looks, shall I say ridiculous (but of course in a wholesome and appropriate way).
I think you are asking the wrong questions. Both are important and it is not a choice whether to have a good looking site or a site with good content. You need both.
Ask yourself what your site is about. What you want it to achieve. Find the main theme (content) for your site and then design your visual to support or augment that core idea of your site.
Write good content.
Design solves problems. So if you have your content and you need to present it well - there is your problem. Solve it with some smart design.
The design is very important for Branding.
The content will help promote the brand again.
Branding gets eyes on the site for five seconds. Content keeps them there and gets them back.
start by looking at the site from the perspective of the user searching Google. Does your site provide the best, most relevant information for a given search term. This is primarily what Google gives importance to. - User Experience
Go in for a clean and clutter free design and a great content.
One of the primary purpose of the site design/layout should be to organize your content well and make it easier for visitors to navigate.
And make sure your site loads fast enough and all your site content is easily accessible thro links from your main pages and properly formatted, else Google will not be pleased with you
I always remember the phrase “Content is King”. However, as others have stated, visual appeal is also very important to the site. A well designed site will add a general sense of credibility to an organization if the content can back it up.
I’ve been to sites which had abominable design, but because their content was useful and the topics were pretty rare online, I kept coming back. Ideally both are important but I think content is much easier to develop and if you design your site around showing content that users need or want you’ll have a better site in the long run.
People will find lazy to read the content. So it will be good if you do it in the visual like video manner they will watch the video.
A handful of people have such short attention spans when reading that they would prefer to watch a video clip of the same information. But most people who have a short attention span would prefer to watch a video clip of a dog on a skateboard wearing sunglasses, or some such stupid thing.
If it’s done really, really well, a video clip can really enhance the content on a site. How often do you reckon it’s done really, really well? 10%? 5%? No way. I reckon less than 1% of sites with video on are actually benefiting from it.
Hardly anyone who is actually interested in your content will want to watch a video, unless the video conveys information that can’t readily be transcribed in text. If it’s just a video of someone reading a script, maybe with fancy-pants backgrounds, that’s no good. Why? Because it usually takes a lot longer to watch the video, the visual and audio reproduction is usually pretty poor making it harder to understand, you can’t as easily skip ahead or go back over something, you can’t copy and paste it into an email or a research paper … the list of downsides to online video is looooong.
It was true when Nielsen said it in 2005, and it’s still true now: Talking head video is boring.
The content is most important in a website! original and helpful content drives people to your site and without people there is no website.:D. Of course the navigation of your website is also very important, the design is maybe third that is important.