I deal in many web project s and actually own a number of websites which are monetized via affiliate sales. Some people use the template based approach where they purchase generic templates for all their sites. But I find this to be a less professional approach since if you really want your site to stand out I believe in ordering a custom site design.
While hiring a professional web designer can be quite expensive (especially if you own multiple sites as I do), you can actually outsource your project online to lower your costs. I personally love DesignQuote.net since rather than having to go and compare offers from a number of web designers, you can post your project online and have professional designers compete for your business through their own web design bids. Since you post your project first you can be sure that each bid is related exactly to the project at hand. The site is obviously a great source of work for designers too. They have just celebrated their first birthday and have completed over $3 million dollars in projects in their first year online.