Design can make or break a business, but still the examples of shoddy designs are many. There are no substitutes for custom designs as other alternatives have been already been used extensively to fill the real estate, which is fortunately or unfortunately unlimited on the Internet. Stock photos belong to an era gone-by, and I may not be the only one who finds stock photos of suit-clad employees in the boardroom boring.
User’s attention is increasingly getting a rare commodity, and your only chance of generating a decent user-engagement is the design.