Recently, a good friend of mine launched a new website to showcase his design portfolio (you can see the website by clicking here). When he showed me the website, I was immediately struck by the minimalist design. In a time when websites are becoming overloaded with banners, buttons, advertisements, forms, widgets, and other distractions, this website cut all the crap and focused on only what was most important.

And you know what? It forced me to actually engage with the website and dig deeper into it. Most times, I get so frustrated with websites that I visit because they’re poorly laid out and there’s just too much junk to sift through to find what I need.

I’ve always been a proponent of minimalism in design. More designers should take the phrase “less is more” to heart, if you ask me. A well-designed, minimalist website eliminates distractions, loads quickly, makes it easier for visitors to find what they need, helps your content really stand out, and is just easier to use.

If you’re going for the minimalist look on your website, here are 4 key things to keep in mind.

1. Eliminate all unnecessary elements—Minimalism is all about focusing only on the bare necessities. If something isn’t critical to getting the message across or making the website easier to use, it needs to go. Figure out what the most important thing is on the page, direct focus toward that, and scratch out anything that distracts from this.
2. Don’t sacrifice usability—Of course, there’s a thin line between good and bad minimalist web design. Sometimes, you can take too much away from the design, making your website difficult to navigate. Make sure your visitors don’t have to think too hard when using your website. It should be readily apparent where they need to go on your website, and your navigation should be clearly visible.
3. Apply minimalist principles to your content—The minimalist approach should carry over to all aspects of your website, including your content. That’s not to say that you need to obsess over word counts. It’s simply to get you in the mindset that you’re making sure every word on your website serves a purpose and is absolutely necessary. In other words, cut the fluff.
4. Use your minimalist design to draw the eye to your main message—The whole point of eliminating unnecessary elements from your website is to get rid of the distractions so visitors will focus on your main message. With that in mind, make sure your design forces visitors to look right where you want them to—whether that’s to a call to action, a sales message, or a button you want them to click to go deeper on your website.

What are some other key principles of minimalist web design? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Great content isn’t enough for having a successful blog. Design matters too. If your design makes any of these 4 annoying mistakes, you could frustrate visitors and cripple your growth.

1. Pop-up ads—This is the most annoying blog design trend of the moment. You’ve surely experienced it. You land on the blog, start reading the post, and about 5 seconds later, an ad pops up, interrupting you and asking you to subscribe to an email list or to the blog. When this happens, I usually just close out the tab, neither subscribing or finishing reading the post because it’s do annoying.
2. Small content area—There’s nothing wrong with having a sidebar and some ads on your blog, but remember, content is the foundation of your blog. When you load your page with so much junk that it compresses the content area to virtually nothing, you’re killing the readability and usability of your blog.
3. Lack of branding—I’m not saying you have to drop thousands of dollars on your blog design. I’m not even saying that you can’t use a template. But you do need to add something to the design that makes it yours. Something that lets visitors immediately know where they are. Something that separates your blog from all others.
4. Widget overload—All the various plugins, buttons, and other fancy widgets can improve the look and functionality of your blog…when used sparingly. If you get carried away, your blog will have way too much going on, pulling your visitor’s attention in a thousand different directions.

What are some of the blog design mistakes that really annoy you? Vent your frustration by leaving a comment below.

Web usability is always a hot topic. Companies are always looking for ways to tweak their websites to make them more user-friendly so that they will get more conversions.

In my opinion, anyone who is concerned with web usability should take a look at Google’s homepage at Google.com. There, you can gain many lessons in what makes a website simple and easy to use.

Look at the image above. There’s not much to it at all, right? It has the Google name, a search bar, and two buttons. That’s it. It’s as simple as it gets.

It’s no wonder Google is the most visited website on the internet. Sure, people love the search results it provides, but Google’s simplicity is what has caused it to win out over Yahoo!.

When you go to the Yahoo! homepage, you’re presented with so many options, you have no idea where to look or what to do. It’s overwhelming and distracting. It causes choice paralysis. Too many options can definitely be a bad thing, so keep that in mind when designing your website. Each page should have a specific purpose and a specific action that you want the user to take.

That’s where Google’s homepage succeeds. The only action they want you to take is to type something in the search bar and get some results. That’s it.

Simplicity is the name of the game. The easier you can make things for your website visitors, the more conversions you’ll get. Don’t ask them to do several different things, and don’t make them dig to find what it is that they’re looking for. Remove any unnecessary elements from the page that aren’t contributing to the goal of converting the visitor.

In short, I’ll sum it up with the popular phrase “Keep it simple, stupid!”

How many times have you been on a website, gotten ready to make a purchase, only to discover that before you could place your order, you had to create an account with the company? Forcing your customers to jump through hoops just to do business with you is never a smart move. That’s not to say that having the option to open a checkout account isn’t a good idea, but it shouldn’t be a requirement for buying from you.

Here are 4 reasons to also include a guest checkout option on your website.

1. Some people aren’t comfortable with giving out personal information—Online shoppers are often very cautious, and they don’t want to provide you with any more information than they have to in order to complete their purchase. Asking them to create an account could scare them away.
2. It makes checkout appear faster and easier—Even if guest checkout isn’t actually faster than registering for an account, the average person thinks it is. So, if they’re impatient and want to hurry up and place their order, having the option of guest checkout could be the difference between making the sale or losing it.
3. A large percentage of customers prefer the guest checkout option—One study I read recently found that, when given the option, 30% of customers will use guest checkout. Doesn’t it just make sense to give your customers what they want?
4. It can only help things—How is having the option of guest checkout going to hurt you? It won’t. It can only help things, not hurt them. Yes, it’d be nice if you could get every customer to sign up for an account, but it’d be even nicer not to lose out on sales because certain customers don’t feel like signing up.

Do you offer your customers the option of guest checkout?

I’ve seen countless case studies showing that implementing videos on landing pages can significantly increase your conversion rate, and it just makes sense, when you think about it. Having another tool on the page that engages the visitor, educates them on the benefits of your product or service, and encourages them to take action has to be helpful.

However, just throwing a video on your landing page isn’t guaranteed to boost your conversion rate. There are some serious mistakes you need to avoid when implementing video on your site.

1. Setting the video to play automatically—On landing pages that have a mix of text and video, setting the video to play automatically is a bad idea. It disrupts the visitor as he’s trying to read, and it’s honestly just a bit annoying. If someone wants to watch the video, they know how to click the play button. Give them the choice.
2. Poor production quality—Your video doesn’t have to look like Spielberg directed it, but it needs to at least have a clear picture and easy-to-hear audio. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen videos on landing pages with audio so poor that you can’t hear half of what’s being said. That will hurt your conversion rate, not help it.
3. Too dang long—Whenever I go to load up a video and I see it’s like 20 minutes long, there’s no chance in hell I’m watching it. I have better things to do with my 20 minutes (like watching videos of an armless man destroying a hotel lobby) than watch an infomercial online. Keep your videos short and entertaining if you want people to sit through them.
4. No personality—Your videos have to be at least somewhat entertaining or interesting. No one wants to watch a boring video that lacks personality.

What are your best tips for using video on a landing page?

If you’re thinking about launching a new website or redesigning your current site, you might be tempted to try to save a few bucks by using a free or cheap template design. You can download these pre-designed websites, plug in your content and images, and have a new website up all without paying a web designer. Sounds great, right?

Well, while there might be some small benefits to using a web template (I admit it, I’ve used them), there are several drawbacks that might make you think twice about going this route. Here are 5 good reasons not to use a template design.

1. Your template has to be customized anyway—Most templates aren’t ready to be used right out of the box. They require some tweaking to fit your unique design needs. And guess what that means? It means you either better know a good deal about web design and coding or you’re going to have to hire a designer anyway.
2. Templates aren’t great for branding—Your website plays an important role in your overall branding efforts, and if you’re using a generic design, you’re going to have a difficult time creating a recognizable brand online. You’re much better off creating a design from scratch that captures the look of your brand.
3. Templates often have restrictions—You don’t have a lot of freedom with web templates. Not only is it often incredibly difficult to tweak the template to fit your needs, but there are also licensing agreements with the template designer that govern how you can use the website. You’ll also be required to link back to the template designer’s website somewhere on your own website.
4. Others are using the same template—You’re not the only one downloading that fancy new website template. Chances are, hundreds or thousands of others are downloading that template too. And what are your customers going to think when they see you have the same generic design that they’ve seen time and time again?
5. Most templates are terrible for SEO—Many templates just aren’t designed with SEO in mind. A lot of template designers aren’t familiar with SEO best practices, so you could end up with a website that’s difficult for search spiders to crawl and rank.

Have you ever used a template design? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment in the replies.

If you’re a movie nerd like me, chances are you’ve visited Ain’t It Cool News on at least one occasion (or in my case, a few thousand occasions). It’s the leading source for entertainment news targeted at the “geek” crowd. It gets thousands of daily hits and has an Alexa Traffic Rank of 5,082.

In short, it’s a popular site.

And that’s why I was so surprised to see the site fail so miserably at launching a new design. Just this past week, AintItCool.com rolled out a new look for its website, and the results have been nothing short of disastrous.

Their homepage which displays news in a few different categories is all miscategorized and out of whack. The comments section is screwed up. There are all sorts of server issues. Content seems to disappear and reappear at random times.

To sum it up in internet geek terms: It’s a FAIL on every level. An EPIC FAIL, if you will.

So how could such a popular brand do such a terrible job at launching a new version of its site?

Apparently, they didn’t do a whole lot of testing before putting the new site up. In the site owner’s own words, it was a “hurried launch.” While I don’t know everything that’s going on behind the scenes at AintItCool.com, I can’t imagine why they’d hurry to launch their new website without taking the time to make sure it works the way it should.

Look, it’s understandable for there to be a few kinks here and there whenever you put up a new website. These things happen. But you can minimize the kinks by testing the site as much as possible before you put it live. And once it goes live and you notice the problems, you have to fix them as quickly as possible. You can’t expect visitors to idly sit by for days, waiting for it to be fixed.

There are lessons all of us can learn from AintItCool.com’s relaunch failures. It all boils down to paying attention to details, doing as much testing as possible, and correcting issues in a timely manner.

What tips would you offer to someone thinking about launching a website redesign?

Are people leaving your website almost as quickly as they arrived? Bounces happen, but if you have an exceptionally high bounce rate, that’s an indication that your website isn’t functioning the way it should. Something is just not right, and until you correct it, you’ll never build a truly profitable and effective online presence.

So, what are some of the most common reasons visitors quickly bounce from a website?

1. You’re targeting the wrong keywords—It’s quite possible that you’re targeting keywords that don’t exactly match the products or services you offer. In other words, people could be searching for one thing but end up finding your website instead. For example, someone might be searching for information on “windows” for their home and end up on a website about “Microsoft Windows.” Make sure you’re really targeting keywords that bring targeted visitors.
2. Your website takes too long to load—If your website doesn’t display within a few seconds of someone clicking on it, you’re going to lose a lot of visitors. Web users are an impatient bunch. They want instant satisfaction, and if you can’t deliver it, they’ll find someone else who can.
3. Your content doesn’t deliver on the link’s promise—You see this happen a lot with PPC ads. The ad will promise one thing, but when the user clicks the link, they’re taken to a page that has almost no connection with the ad’s promise. Always make sure you’re delivering what the visitors expect.
4. They can’t find the information they’re looking for—Again, web users are impatient and want their information as quickly as possible. This means your website needs to have simple navigation, easy to scan content, and even a search bar if your website is large enough.
5. They don’t trust you—Online shoppers are very skeptical by nature. And for good reason. With so many scams plaguing the internet, you can never be too careful. So how can you earn their trust? Having testimonials helps. So does eliminating risk and ditching the spammy copy. Check out more tips for convincing skeptical customers.
6. You do something annoying—Pop-ups, autoplay audio and video, and walk-on spokespeople are just a few things that annoy me to no end. If you’re doing something intrusive and annoying when people land on your website, you can bet a lot of people will instantly back out.
7. Your content doesn’t hook the reader—You only have a few short seconds to grab the attention of your website visitors. You need to hook them in with a strong, benefit-rich headline and powerful copy that demands to be read.

What are some other reasons visitors bounce quickly from websites?

I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy computing. I’m a junkie when it comes to computers. Even more, I really enjoy operating systems. For most of my life I have been using Microsoft operating systems. My generation is pretty cool because I got started right during the peek of things. In school, I used early versions of Windows including Windows 3.1.

When Windows 95 was released, I was truly impressed. Amazingly, Windows today still has that same format but dressed up significantly. Over the years though, I have become less tolerate of Windows. As more time went by, slowly I started to prefer other operating systems. I purchased my first Apple computer about two years ago and I think that was the moment when I finally realized that there was more to computers than just Microsoft Windows. Today, I prefer Linux, specifically Debian/Ubuntu. I now consider purchasing my MacBook Pro as a stepping stone to migrating away from Windows. I do like Mac OS X, but for me, I like to build and customize things. I don’t want to sound like I am downing Mac OS X, because I’m not. The operating system is absolutely amazing, and in my opinion, flawless!

The reason why I prefer Linux is because I’m a builder. I’m creative and I enjoy customizing and tweaking things. You can’t really do that with Mac OS. With my MacBook PRO, you push the power button and it just works. Which is great, but Apple is responsible for its greatness, not me. When I build a Linux OS, I’m responsible for making it work. Linux is much like art. You can customize your computer and include the programs you want, all from scratch. Getting everything to work right depends on you. In other words, your computer is built right when you have everything you want, the way you want. Working with Linux is a challenge, it’s rewarding, and it’s amazing once you have things running the way you want.

But what about Webmasters? What is the best operating system to use for webmastering? I’ve considered this question for quite some time. I guess it’s something that could be debated without a final conclusion, simply because it’s based on the opinion of individual users. With the three common operating systems available (Windows, Mac, and Linux) which one do you think provides the best user functionality for webmasters?

In my opinion, I can say that it’s between Mac and Linux. Windows is completely out of the equation. If you feel differently, I totally welcome you to express your thoughts on why you think its best operating. My opinion why Windows doesn’t compare to either Mac or Linux is lack of speed, security, and stability. Even with Windows completely optimized for maximum performance, it’s still much slower than Mac or Linux. I don’t like to keep my computers running when I’m not using them. I power them down and turn them off. I’m pretty sure that components and CPU processors are only rated for so many hours of use, plus it wastes electricity. I believe that my computers will last longer if I turn them off then they are not in use. And admittedly, I look more at it towards trying to reduce my electric bill compared to the “Green” aspects. Sorry!

On both Mac and Linux setups, you’re going to see super fast startup times. Mac, in my opinion, is the fastest. Linux out of the box, tends to come with a lot of programs installed, thus slowing it down slightly. Linux is still faster than Windows though. Another consideration is security. Windows computers are buggy and always subject to failure. That’s not a very comforting feeling as a webmaster who stores important content, data, and graphics on a personal computer.

But enough about what I think… what are your thoughts? As a webmaster, what is the best operating system to use and why? What tools do you have that are only available on the operating system use? Lastly, if you could no longer use your favorite operating system, which of the other two would you prefer to use and why? I welcome your comments and invite you to share your opinions.

If you want to know how to get a dedicated IP address on a shared web hosting account, here is an easy and affordable way to do that. Before I reveal the solution, first I think it’s important to understand why a dedicated IP address is needed. If you have a website for sharing pictures with mom and dad, or just for random things, getting a dedicated IP address really isn’t needed. If you are creating multiple sites for profit and depend on traffic from search engines, it’s possible that getting a dedicated IP can help increase your rankings.

Please note: I can not prove this to be true. In fact, people from Google deny that having a dedicated IP makes a difference compared to hosting sites with shared IP addresses. But, in my opinion… why risk it when it’s not really too difficult or expensive to have a dedicated IP address?

I suspect that when a website shares the same IP address with other websites, it can suffer from not having the best search engine visibility compared to being hosted with a dedicated IP address. In other words, if your website shares the same IP address with a website that has questionable content, I suspect that search engines won’t exactly BLACKLIST the IP address, but instead adjustments will be made to prevent the site with questionable content from gaining excellent search engine visibility. In my opinion, this puts your site at risk because it’s very possible that the adjustments made are based on the IP address rather than the actual site (domain name) using the IP address. Again, Google denies this as being true, but once again… in my opinion, why take a chance?

The solution around this is to get a web hosting account that offers a dedicated IP address. That way, all of your websites are separated and unaffected from websites that you don’t own or control. The problem is finding a cheap web hosting plan that offers a dedicated IP address. Most upgraded plans such as VPS hosting offer this, but with an increased price. Again, we’re looking for cheap and affordable. Shared web hosting is the way to go!

But while shared hosting is simple and affordable, unfortunately it isn’t often that shared accounts come with a dedicated IP address option. Many shared web hosting plans include an option to order an additional IP address, but those addresses are also shared too. The solution is to look for a web hosting plan that offers the option to order a dedicated IP address and/or an affordable SSL option.

A great example is HostGator’s shared Business Plan. This plan has a low cost and it includes a free dedicated IP address and private SSL. If you don’t want to order or upgrade to the business plan, you can also order their standard plan and request a dedicated IP address for an additional but very small fee. Do some research, because other companies offer a dedicated IP address options too. Many have high prices though, so keep a close eye on what you’re ordering.

Another trick is to look closely at the features and see if a private SSL option is available. If the private SSL option happens to be cheaper than the annual cost of having a dedicated IP address, then order the private SSL. The reason is because in order to have a private SSL setup, a dedicated IP address needs to be established. If this doesn’t occur, then the information is misleading. Even if the cost is slightly higher, it’s still worth it because you get a private SSL and a dedicated IP for a price slightly higher than the individual cost for one.

Of course, if you’re looking for some IP addresses on multiple C Classes (diversified), you should check out the hosting plans offered here at SEO Hosting. At the time of writing this article, you can get a class C IP address plan for $35/month. In my opinion, that is well worth the money. Especially, if you’re serious about search engine optimization and keeping your sites hosted in a secure environment that you have total control over.