Today, web design tends to focus more on good user experience. Therefore, designers need to create websites that are functional. If you want to have an attractive yet functional website, I suggest going for a minimalistic approach. As a result, it can simplify and improve the overall user experience. If you want to learn more about improving user experience, refer to Tips on Improving User Experience and Increasing Conversions.

What Is Minimalist Web Design?

Currently, minimalism is a powerful technique when it comes to modern web design. A lot of people have been going for a minimalist looking website because the more elements a design has, the more complex it looks to a user. Just like what I said on Principles of a Good Website (Part 1), strive for simplicity instead of complexity. When minimalistic approaches are applied correctly, it can help in simplifying users’ tasks.

A minimalist web design seeks to simplify user interfaces by getting rid of unnecessary elements and content. To be able to create a truly minimalist interface, a designer should show the users what is essential. According to a study conducted by EyeQuant, it suggests that websites with clean designs have lower bounce rate. So, if you are someone who has issues with bounce rate, it may be best to switch to a minimalist web design.

When it comes to a minimalist web design, the most important feature is negative space (or white space). If you want to know how you can achieve a minimalistic web design, here are some tips you can follow:

1. Follow the “one concept per page” rule.

The central idea of minimalist philosophy is to design around the content. This doesn’t only get rid of distractions, but also gives emphasis on what’s important. When you have a strong focal area, it makes the message clearer.

2. Get rid of all unnecessary words.

When it comes to minimalism, you don’t need a lot of words. You have to be able to communicate with users concisely. When you design, keep only what is needed to explain your message.

3. Ensure easy navigation for users.

One of the top objectives of web design is easy navigation. A user should be able accomplish tasks easily and without distraction. If you design minimalist websites, make sure visitors can easily find what they need. If a user can easily find what he is looking for, it is more likely that he will stay on your site longer.

RELATED: How to Keep Your Audience Stay Longer on Your Website

4. Don’t be afraid to use animation.

Good UI animation is meaningful and functional. So, when it comes to having a minimalist web design, animation is your best friend.  Just make sure to keep it subtle. When you incorporate animation, it makes it fun for users to interact with your website.

In conclusion, less is really more. So, when you want to achieve a minimalistic web design, always avoid anything unnecessary to the function. Remember that when you go for minimalism, clarity and functionality should always be present. When you combine of usability and aesthetics, you will have an attractive and functional website. If you want to know how you can improve your website, read Website Investments You Should Spend On (Part 1).

Today, I’m going to discuss about the main principles and approaches for an effective web design. When applied properly, these approaches can lead to more refined design decisions. Contrary to popular belief, the visual design of a website doesn’t contribute much to its overall success. The usability and utility of a website are the ones that determine the success or failure of a website.

When they visit your site, you have to make sure that their user experience will be outstanding. By having a user-centric design, you will have a successful and profit-oriented web design. Make sure that every feature you put out on your site is usable. After all, if users can’t use a feature, it might as well not exist at all.

RELATED: Tips on Improving User Experience and Increasing Conversions

Before we go over the principles of a good website, we have to understand how users interact with websites first. We have to know what are the fundamental patterns of users’ behavior and how they think.

How Do Users Think?

• Users don’t read, they scan. When they arrive on a web page, they analyze it and search for anchors that would guide through the content of the page.
• Users want to have control over their browser. In other words, they don’t want new windows popping up unexpectedly. Therefore, it’s a good method to never open links in new browser windows.
• Users tend to be impatient. Oftentimes, they have the urge for instant gratification. For example, a website didn’t meet the users’ expectations, then the designer wasn’t able to do his job properly. As a result, the company will lose money which is what we’re trying to avoid.
• Users appreciate quality and credibility. When you provide users with great content, your site will surely gain a lot of traffic. In short, content is much more important than the design.

Now that we know how users think, it’s time to discuss the principles that make up a good website.

1. Don’t make users think too much.

As stated by Krug’s first law of usability, the web page should be clear and understandable. Don’t make the users think too much. Make sure that your site architecture and navigation is instinctive. If a site isn’t instinctive enough, it will be hard for users to comprehend how the system works and how to navigate from point A to point B. Always provide users with clear structure that can help them navigate through your website smoothly.

2. Always strive for simplicity.

When you create a website, strive for simplicity instead of complexity. Make sure that you are clearly presenting information about your website. The primary goal of a site design should be the KIS principle. KIS stands for Keep It Simple.

It’s a rare occurrence that users visit a site just to simply enjoy the design. Most of the time, users do not focus on how the website looks like when they visit sites. This is because they are searching for information rather than focusing on a website’s appearance.

3. White space isn’t something you should be afraid of.

White space is important. When you utilize white spaces, it can help in reducing the cognitive load for users who visit your site. Additionally, it also makes it possible for users to easily digest the information presented on the screen. So, if you want users to easily understand your content, make sure to incorporate enough white spaces.

RELATED: Important Tips to Make Your Blogs Easier to Read

In conclusion, these are just some of the principles you should apply if you want to have a good website. There are still a few more principles that I’ll discuss about on Principles of a Good Website (Part 2). If you plan to create a website, reading Things to Establish Before Building a Website (Part 1) and Things to Establish Before Building a Website (Part 2) might be helpful.

Previously on All You Need to Know About Creative Commons, I talked about different creative licenses under Creative Commons (CC). It is really important to check the license and usage details of a creative piece before you use it. Plus, it’s considered common courtesy to give credit to the original owner, that’s why you should know how to give credit in the right way.

If you do not know how to give proper credit when you use creative works, you’re actually breaking the law. When you do break the law, you will face serious consequences, and that is something you should avoid at all costs. Now, I will share to you how you can give proper credit when you use other people’s creative works.

When you give credit where credit is due, you are actually building trust with your audience. Don’t worry about driving your visitors elsewhere because there is only a slight possibility that this could happen. Rather, focus on the fact that your SEO can actually benefit from inserting outbound links to high-quality sources.

How to Give Proper Credit

1. Make sure you have permission to use the creative piece. If that creative work doesn’t have any Creative Commons license, you should email the owner to see if you can use their image. For example, if you use an image on your blog post, write the owner’s name and link underneath the photo. If, by any chance, the owner does not have a personal website, provide the link to the website where you got the photo instead.
   Here is a sample format on how you can properly give credits: “Photo by [artist name with the link to their website]” or “Image by [artist name] via [link to the website where you sourced the photo].”
2. If the photo you used was found on Pinterest or Google Images, it’s not enough to simply cite Google or Pinterest as the source. This is because Pinterest and Google are just search engines. They are not the original source and oftentimes, they do not link back to the original creator.
   If the owner’s details can’t be seen, the best thing you can do is to do a reverse image search. This can help you find the original image and then acquire permission from there. However, if you’re still unable to find the original source, it’s best to look for another image to use.

3. If you’re reposting a creative work on social media, always make sure that you tag the owner. For example, if you want to repost a creative work on Facebook, you can just simply share the original post onto your Facebook page, and all of the owner’s info will automatically be there, assuming that the poster is the original owner.

What Happens if You Don’t Give Credits?

When you don’t give credit where it’s due, you can be sued by the owner for copyright infringement. Those who are found guilty may have to pay thousands of dollars. Moreover, this will also be a huge blow if you’re still a starting business. That is why it’s better to use royalty-free images to avoid any legal consequences. Learn more about royalty-free images HERE. On the next topic, I will talk about in detail the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

This is the third and last part of our discussion about website conversions. If you want to read the previous part, read Tips on How to Generate More Website Conversions (Part 2). So, when maximize your site conversions correctly, there will be a lot of benefits. For example, you can boost your profits by increasing the conversion rates of your website. The main point here is to be able to generate website conversions in the cheapest way possible.

If you want to know more about website conversions, here are more tips that will help your site convert:

1. Study the Gutenberg Rule.

The Gutenberg Rule (also known as the Gutenberg diagram) is the concept about a habit of reading that is prominent in the western world, which is reading from left to right, top to bottom. The diagram has four quadrants: Primary Optical Area, Strong Fallow Area, Weak Fallow Area, and Terminal Area.

As our eyes scan the page from top left to bottom right, the diagram suggests that the bottom left area of the page usually gets the least attention. So, how can we apply this concept in getting more conversions? The best thing you can do is to place buttons and calls to action in the bottom right area instead of bottom left.

2. Incorporate scannable feature lists on your site.

Web visitors often don’t have a lot of patience. This is because the time they’re spending on browsing your website can be the time that could be spent on doing a plethora of other tasks. When people invest their time on navigating around your website, you should offer something valuable in return.

Make sure that you have attention-grabbing offers because if don’t like what you offer, they’re likely to click away. For customers not to get bored, present your information in a way that it’s easy to digest. Make your marketing pitch  short and concise. Customers will appreciate it if it’s quick to read and simple to understand.

RELATED: Important Tips to Make Your Blogs Easier to Read

3. Try A/B Testing.

A/B testing is also known as split testing. This test basically pits design A against design B to determine which performs better. It is a simple that helps you figure out things like, “where should you place the “Buy Now” button?”

You can use Google Website Optimizer to perform A/B testing on your website. It’s easy to use and all you have to is provide the optimizer with the different assets you want to test. Afterwards, it will randomly load them for your visitors and track which leads to better conversions.

4. Post testimonials on your site.

Another way that can help you in site conversions are testimonials. It is a great marketing strategy as it tells new customers that there are people who use and recommend your products. When new customers see testimonials, it can help relieve their doubts on purchasing a new product or service. Therefore, when they know that there are others who have tried it and liked it, it will make them interested in availing your product or service.

When you post testimonials on your site, make sure it’s a legitimate testimony from someone who has really used your product or service. The best thing you can do is to always add a source.

In conclusion, there are lots of things you can do to generate more website conversions. Make sure to use these tips wisely. While website conversions are immensely important when you want to optimize your campaigns, NEVER obsess over conversions. When you obsess over it, it might do you more harm than good. If you want to read the first part of our website conversion discussion, read Tips on How to Generate More Website Conversions (Part 1).

When people visit your website that means you caught their interest. This is a good sign especially when you are running a business-oriented website. However, it shouldn’t stop there. You should be able to successful sell your products/services to them.

Once you’ve managed to sell your product to a customer, use this as an opportunity to present more enticing offers to the customer. Aside from generating sales, this can also help boost your conversion rate.

RELATED: Tips on Improving User Experience and Increasing Conversions

If you want to increase your website conversions, here are some tips you can follow:

1. Keep the requirements as low as possible.

You have to convince your users to buy your products immediately. One way you can do this is by keeping the requirements as low as possible. To understand customers’ needs and interests, you can implement personalization methods on your site.

One of the best things you can incorporate on your site is a shopping cart that would store the users’ sessions. By doing so, this will influence the customer to favor your store over others and it is more likely that he/she will return to your site to make a purchase.

2. The best marketing strategy is great service.

When you offer great service, there’s a high possibility that customers will spread the word to other people. This will bring you more customers in the long run. What you should do is to offer your products at a convenient yet competitive price. You should also make sure that you are providing your customers with an excellent product description and offer a much better fulfillment-service.

By providing your customers with great service, you can improve the customers’ user experience, impact the reputation of your business, and boost your conversion rates. There is no better marketing technique than providing your customers with great quality service.

3. Make the most out of the Thank-You Page.

The time after a conversion is made is actually the best time for the next one. For example, a user finally made a decision to buy your product and finished the checkout process. Once the purchase is done, it is now the perfect time to make sure that the customer is ready for his next purchase.

When a customer successfully bought a product from your site, it means that you already earned the user’s trust and collected essential data from the user. Not all online stores has a proper thank-you page where users are redirected to upon checking out. Use this to your advantage and make the most out your thank-you page. On the thank-you-page, you can advertise is advertise a newsletter. When you advertise a newsletter, make sure that you tell your customers what exclusive benefits they can get by disclosing their email address.

After customers make a purchase on your website, allow them to track their order. Encourage them to rate your store, leave a review/testimonial, or recommend the store to the other people through social media.

In conclusion, conversions help predict the success or failure of your website. While conversion rates are not everything, it’s still a factor that can indicate whether your marketing strategy is productive. Hopefully these tips will help you in improving your website and conversion rates. Read more tips about website conversions on Tips on How to Generate More Website Conversions (Part 2). If you are planning to make a website, read What A Successful Website Needs and What Customers Want to See on a Website.