Unique services like these help because they turn the site into a place to gather valuable information. Yes, even the ones spending thousands on high-profile advertising. Submitting your URL to the search engines is only the start. Your site will shrivel up and die very quickly if it has no value. On the other hand, if you provide free info it'll draw in traffic.
People flock to it because it's valuable and free.
Give and ye shall receive. If you do, I hope this will talk you out of it. I have no idea who started this strange trend of the background design. Probably not - neither do visitors to your page. In addition to making it VERY difficult to read, they usually slow down the loading time.