Article: Even if your site is text-heavy, it should be visually appealing to keep people from making snap judgments about the quality. If you don't have much design sense, have an artistic friend give it the once over, ask an older relative whether or not they find the site easy to navigate, or even consider hiring a designer to work on the overall composition. Streamline every page so that people don't get disoriented or frustrated. Avoid using elaborate fonts, numerous colors, or unnecessary graphics that slow down the page-load time (or make people think they're looking at an over-enthusiastic PowerPoint presentation). Use the same banner at the top (and bottom, if applicable) of every page so that people can navigate your site with ease. Tie all your pages together with a color scheme so that people don't think they've been mysteriously transported somewhere else with every click. Be consistent in your font usage by sticking with no more than three fonts, making section all headers the same size, all subsection headers a different size, etc. If you're afraid that leaving white space will drive visitors away, just look at any Google page. White space helps a page look clean and uncluttered, to say nothing of the fact that it makes navigation much easier. Nobody wants to battle a wall of text.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Make the site easy on the eyes. Keep it simple. Keep a consistent theme. Embrace white space. Use short paragraphs.