You throw a visual onslaught at them, and they are history. I think you can. I'm not seeing any big sites tearing up the web with quality here. Most of the bigger designers will tend to sell you eye candy over pages that will actually produce sales. Also, it definitely won't be ready by April.
Tag editors can even please purists.
They put out pure code because they depend on what you tell them to put in. Browse through the appropriate category at Yahoo to get an idea of what their editors like - use that as one of your design idea tools. You'll have to decide between using a plain background or a background image. It depends on the site. One thing I do like is a graphic company header top of page - I once read that having one helps to get a Yahoo acceptance, and since I've had them happen, it's almost a superstition with me to include them.