If you want to sell products or services, you need a great website. Period.

This means combining a modern, user-friendly and attractive design with compelling copy thought out to awe your target audience.

Most companies hire professional copywriters to write the copy for their websites.

However, many businesses still take care of their looks but not their soul.

Let me explain.

Some websites have a cool design, but the copy is mediocre and unoriginal.

Conversely, some of them have excellent copy, but the layout is so atrocious that it takes a lot of effort to read it, so no one does it.

That’s why in today’s lesson we’re going to study some great websites where both copy and design combine to produce a great result.

I’ll briefly analyse them to understand why they’re so good and what they could do to be even better.

Let’s have some fun and be inspired by how well others are doing it.

Marie Forleo

Her website is almost perfect, it’s obvious she’s invested a lot in it, but you can get ideas for your low-cost version!

Marie Forleo is a self-made woman who started out as a waitress and ended up starting a coaching business and hosting a TV show in the US.

She’s been interviewed and photographed with celebrities like Oprah and Tony Robbins.

I love her website because it’s clean and super user-friendly, but what I like most is the copy.

She writes from the heart and her words are really powerful.

Marie knows how important web copy is to grab the reader’s attention, empathise with their problems, and be persuasive without sounding like a greedy salesman.

This is an excellent example of good copywriting:

It attracts the attention of all those people who don’t fit into the corporate world because they can’t find a purpose.

These people have many interests but don’t know how to use their various talents to make a living.

She is very good at writing and, of course, one of the products she offers is a copywriting course.

She talks about the power of the will to realise your dreams and uses herself as a case study, living her dreams and now wanting to help you live yours.

She makes excellent use of what we call in marketing “social proof” by adding photos and testimonials with prominent people to prove her relevance and make us trust her.

Social proof is very important to build trust.

Maybe you don’t have photos with Oprah but you can ask your best customers to write striking testimonials about your business.

What they do really well

The copy is very well written and carefully targeted at people who are dissatisfied and want to improve their lives and become more successful.

It makes excellent use of social proof with photos and testimonials. And the design is great, clean and zen.

Her site loads very quickly, even though it has a lot of photos, even moving ones. Speed is very important, people don’t have time to waste waiting for your site to load and will leave if it takes too long (more than 6 seconds).

What they could improve

She has a page with lots of compelling success stories from ordinary people, however, it’s not in the main menu, but in a secondary one located on a sidebar.

Finding this menu is not so obvious, I’m sure many people will leave the site without seeing this page.

However, these testimonials are crucial because they come from normal people like you and me.

Someone only browsing the pages on the main menu might think Marie is just another celebrity selling random stuff to the super rich.

But when you read these other testimonials you can see that she helps ordinary people and you can feel related.

Lush

Lush is a very popular brand of cosmetics. There is a shop in almost every town and they also sell a lot online. Of course.

Their success lies in promoting the use of handmade and natural products for personal care and their excellent use of colour and texture in their products.

They let you try all the products in their shops and this definitely has a positive effect on sales, people buy more when they can try a sample.

But how do they do this online where you can’t smell or touch the products?

With impeccable images and well-thought-out sales copy for the descriptions.

Reading their copy, you can almost smell lovely scents and feel the materials. They manage to provide nearly the same experience as if you were in a physical store.

They show videos on how to use their products, so everything looks super easy to use at home.

Notice how they talk about the benefits and how your life will improve after using this product. This is pure and great copy.

It’s poetry that sells:

Notice how they use testimonials to reinforce the benefits of their products. Social proof is a powerful tool to convince your potential customers to buy your products.

With products that are not tested on animals and even a move away from packaging, Lush’s marketing strategy is all about the environment.

This brand is definitely a winner both offline and online.

What they do really well

They take great care to use images and videos of ordinary people, not top models, to connect with their target customers, people like you and me.

Their copy is 10/10.

They write excellent sensory descriptions for each product, highlighting benefits and more benefits.

And they make excellent use of social proof, adding exciting testimonials next to each product.

What they could improve

It’s difficult to find any point for improvement because they have one of the best websites I’ve ever come across.

Maybe one day in the future they will improve the user experience by adding scents to their website 😊

The only thing I have to say here is that I was a bit disappointed when, after I had been on the site for a little while, a chat message popped up asking for my name and email in order to keep in touch.

I hate pop-ups.

They are annoying, but in Lush’s defence, this one only appeared after I had been on the site for a while and disappeared a few seconds after I hadn’t filled in any information.

Well done Lush.

Airstream

Airstream is a classic RV (recreational vehicle) brand that has recently been revived by the digital nomad trend, or simply nomads, people who choose to live on the road.

This brand was founded in the 30s and has been around ever since, with its ups and downs, and is currently enjoying increasing success.

They have a very attractive website with lots of cool content.

You can watch videos and read articles about how they make their motorhomes in Ohio using traditional methods, almost by hand.

They emphasise the fact that they are based in this town since it’s one of their value propositions: they are a real American company.

They now have a new target group: these digital nomads who are growing in number every year, so they use photos with people who might look like them and write copy aimed at this group.

Notice how they talk about a community, the Airstreamers.

The feeling of belonging is a very powerful psychological trigger and it works wonders when writing copy. People want to belong to that group they feel is cool so to be considered cool too.

Their target audience craves adventure and dreams about escaping the rat race and living life to its fullest.

They invite us to embrace the adventure, “Live Riveted, how are you living yours?”

After watching these videos you really want to buy an Airstream and just leave everything behind!

Wake up to the magic of life…

Open your eyes and jump…

They have a blog with stories from Airstreamers so they can build a community of followers.

Having a content strategy and publishing posts and videos on a regular basis is really important to bring organic traffic to your website and build a community of fans of your brand.

They make use again of the feeling of belonging talking about the long history of the company and the spirit of adventure which has endured all this time.

What they do really well

The stories, the photos, the videos, everything incites us to get up from our chairs and travel the world.

Their copy makes us dream and at the same time makes everything seem possible and even easy.

They’re telling us, what’s stopping you?

They show the price of each model, which I think is a good strategy because it makes you think more seriously about whether you can afford to buy one.

You might even find that they aren’t as expensive as you thought and start doing the math on how much rent you pay for your apartment compared to the cost of living in one of these vehicles.

What they could improve

As part of the audience are young professionals who want to travel while working, they should show photos of more trendy and modern interiors.

All the photos of the interiors are a bit cold because they focus on showing the technology and spaciousness, but they lack the warm feeling of a home on wheels.

Adding photos of cosy interiors would definitely improve the desire to buy.

This is one of the main tips when writing copy: try to help prospects picture themselves enjoying the product.

Here they could have done a better job by showing these warmly decorated and ‘lived-in’ interiors.

They could have added copy describing how it feels living, working and travelling in these fantastic vehicles.

Copy Power

Her name is Chelsea Baldwin and this is an excellent example of how to have a compelling website without breaking your bank.

Her copy is excellent because she skillfully addresses each and every concern of her target audience – small businesses and sole traders struggling to get more business.

The copy follows the principles of persuasion:

First presents a problem, then empathises with the prospects’ frustrations about that problem, and finally, presents her solution.

The copy is written using her prospects’ voice – young entrepreneurs with the same struggles she once had.

Chelsea uses the powerful tool of “I’ve been where you’re now and know how it feels” to build trust.

Prospects think “If she’s got there, she can teach me how to make it”.

You can see straight away that she hasn’t spent a lot of money on web design.

In fact, she admits on the home page that she created the site herself with a DIY theme; all to show you that no matter how big (or small) your budget is, you can still sell a lot with good copy.

She has a blog with tips on writing good copy for your website, which is really helpful, and she is creating a community of followers who might sign up for one of her copywriting courses.

She knows that email marketing sells, so she encourages you to sign up for her newsletter to receive her insightful posts in your inbox.

This also allows her to send you marketing emails to warm you up before you decide to sign up for her course.

She’s got a lead magnet – a free series of 3 copywriting tips, so people are more likely to exchange their email addresses for her free advice.

What they do really well

The copy is obviously very good because it empathises with her prospects and encourages them to keep reading. Her lead magnet has been very well thought out as it moves the reader to subscribe to her mailing list.

What they could improve

Speaking of annoying pop-ups, the one offering the lead magnet appears immediately after entering the site.

I find this quite annoying, it should at least let the visitor read more about her and then it could pop up later, when we’ve decided if the content is worthwhile.

I also find her language a little too informal, she sometimes swears and uses a lot of slang.

This is not my style, but I understand that it can work to attract a certain type of audience. Using this kind of language seems to be trendy among young people.

But I think not all young people will identify with that tone of voice.

To wrap up

We’ve seen some of my favourite websites.

There are lots of other great ones, of course… But there are also a lot of terrible ones!

I find this quite unbelievable…

Even today, some well-known companies have poorly written copy and cheap stock photos on their website.

What are they thinking? 😖

Your website is your business card, your salesperson, your online personality and your future. You have to take care of it. Click To Tweet

Having a good website is a MUST.

It’s an investment, yes, but one that can bring you a lot of new sales.

It’s worth it!

Do you know other examples of great websites? Leave me the link in the comments so we can have more sources of inspiration!

See you around!