The less vertical space for the 'header area', the better. In plain-English, the header area is the top part of the page that normally holds your company logo and the main navigation of the site (just like the top of this page). Now take a look at this page, and see if you can find the top of the actual article without scrolling down. We couldn't either (using 1024 x 768 resolution monitor). Don't hide the content from your visitors with too large a header area, as users may click back on their browser without scrolling down.
Less navigation is more. Keep you navigation simple. Let users 'drill down' into smaller sub-menus rather than try to present them with all options in the main navigation. This includes less main product categories too (for e-commerce sites) - it's better for users to be able to browse through a handful of main categories than a hat-full.
Less clichés - they make descriptions sound tired - let your competitors sound unoriginal instead. Discerning visitors can find a clichéd sales pitch annoying and even untrustworthy.
Less shipping costs (for e-commerce websites). It's another trust issue - when you buy an item online advertised at £10 only to find the costs have risen to £15.95 because of postage and packaging, it can cause some doubts and disappointment at having found a bargain turn into bad deal. Shipping is inherently complicated but you don't want to give your customers a nasty surprise at the most critical point of purchase. Sometimes it's a good idea to raise unit prices slightly and lower the shipping costs.
Less advertisements. This is one piece of advice that gets beaten up by money every time. But more adverts don't always lead to more advertising revenue. If your website traffic drops off because your visitors become annoyed with cluttered, slower loading pages and harder-to-find content, your advertisers will pay less for fewer page impressions. Not only that, you lose more of the trust/authority factor. People start to wonder what the purpose of the site is - to host adverts, or actually provide some kind of service to the visitor. With a better user experience, you're more likely to attract more visitors - and hence can charge more for fewer ads!
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