Web page design.. The page of the future

I have been stalking following a lot of writers lately in the ever present quest for knowledge and one thing I have noticed that really sticks out is web page design. Some are nice, clean and up to date while others are shall we say... less than up to date. My own page has gone through three major transformations in the last three years. I am pretty happy with the one I have now and until I can have my own domain I don't see it changing again. So with that, one question comes to mind.

How important is your web page?

I have just recently had this very same discussion with a fellow tweeter and was left feeling a little out of sorts. They claim to be a very good selling author. Making more then enough to take care of their needs and I really have no reason to dispute this at all. They haven't tried to sell me anything or sign me up for any special insider deals so I believe them to be legit. I have known them online for a long time and have had conversations a plenty with them. They profit in no way from lying to me. Yet, the web page for their own books is less then perfect. It seems outdated. In fact it reminds me very much of the web pages I used to design in the very first days of the internet. Blocky buttons, bold flashing lights and a page design that never seems to fit your screen. Yet that being said it really doesn't seem to matter to them in the end. The books are selling and selling rather well I am told. So it begs me to question. Do people really care or is it the end product after all. Is the package no longer important and the old adage "It's what's inside that counts" come back with a vengeance. In the superficial world that we now live in it seems so hard to believe that someone will simply ignore the package and look deeper. In fact as a new writer even I know how important a book cover is. Bad cover = less sales. If there isn't something on the cover that makes a new reader pick it up then you will never have a chance to sell it to them by your blurb on the back. And you can forget those same readers opening to the inside to read the first page.
So with all that in mind am I mistaken? Is the web page really not that important? Please let me know your own thoughts in the comments. Love to hear from you all.