Let me phrase it differently VG. Understand that I am coming from this as a person who writes his own websites for person use (I sell stuff on the web). That is very different than someone who is a web designer for an occupation such as yourself and about a million other steves around here
The people that make the most money on the web that I have come across are marketers first and designers second. Some will do some design for others, but primarily design sites for their own use. I have noted that they always have multiple revenue streams on their sites. That can include selling products, affiliates, promoting direct advertisers etc. Some of them make a LOT of money. But they all can do better on the design side than just manage DW. Most can write some php, css, html, and do some graphics. Where their true skill is in the marketing side however. They also farm out many of the tasks.
How that overlays into what people or companies who develop websites for for others for a living; or what people who have businesses and need to find an appropriate "designer" for their business - I don't know.
One thing that is very clear to me is that business owners and this applies to corporate managers usually don't have a clue about web marketing. By that, what do they need their website to do? How do they achieve that? I don't care if they have a masters in business or are a small entrepreneur. If they don't know, how do they hire and manage the right person for the job? There are obviously exceptions to this but that is a valid generilization in my opinion.