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Good websites to model?

by RedShifted
5 replies
There's no other way to put it, I'm just confused. I can write a decent salespage, I can design compelling ads... but I still do not understand how a website should actually be designed. Even though I've made dozens of them.

You have landing pages for PPC. I get that. They need to be simple and get the point across immediately.

What I don't get is what a properly optimized SEO website looks like. Or "in between" sites. Sites that get both SEO and PPC traffic.

I'm searching around to get some examples I can bookmark, to help me redesign my own site. So I got the idea to search "joe polish testimonials" on google images. I found 2 carpet cleaning companies holding up signs about how they love Joe Polish because he did work for them. Since my company provides mold removal services, I assumed they might be good businesses to model.

These were the sites:

Home
Home

When I look at them... maybe its just me, but it looks like the copy can be A LOT more engaging.
So I thought, "time to find more sites".

I figured if I'm going to find a good site, its going to be in a competitive niche. So I type "seo" into google, and try to find a business offering something related to seo. Its stupid because they're targeting a totally different niche, but I just wanted to see what the "big dogs" were doing.

So I find the well known seobook.com

SEO Book.com ~ SEO Training Made Easy

For some reason, I thought that site was a lot better to model. For 1, the headline pulled me in better. Rather than just seeing "welcome to our website" text with a nonrelevant picture of a family.

TBPO, I can go on forever with my criticism. I think thats my problem is I'm too critical. The point is, I need some "copywriter approved" websites to model. My websites do convert, but I know they can convert a lot better. The site I'm redesigning, was modeled after the 2nd Joe Polish site. I would link it, but I'd rather wait a few weeks till it flows better and the copy is stronger.

My main question is, what websites do you model?

Thanks - Red
#confused #modeled #site
  • Profile picture of the author JRVogt
    I don't have specific sites to point out right at the moment, though I'll look around and see what I can dig up from past research and work.

    I will say that I prefer website layouts that aren't as graphics-heavy. Where, if there are photos and such, they enhance the copy versus overwhelming it. So many web designs these days try to bring in too much visual interest and end up crowding out the actual valuable content. Smiling photos of pleased clients may all be well and good, but I'd rather see a text testimonial or two versus some generic photo. I'd rather see solid headlines on a neutral background than a bland sentence or bullet points jazzed up by animated banners and sparkly graphics. People will look at it and go, "Ooh...that's pretty...but there's nothing beyond the surface level."

    Simplicity is a virtue.
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    Write Strong - Whipping words into shape for elite performance!
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  • Profile picture of the author Shazadi
    I really like Conversion Rate Experts' blog. The one thing to remember is that the best landing page for one company may not be the best format for another, so it depends on what you want visitors to do and what they need to know (like you mentioned).

    I don't think there are any cleaning/mold removal companies they've worked with, but you can look for a case study based on your goal - i.e. if you're trying to get people to sign-up for a newsletter, call in for a consultation, etc. This one was for a rebate site. This is for a travel company.

    Testing is really the most important thing you can do - change around your layout and see which one converts best in practice. Until you do that, one can really only guess.

    I think the travel case study is fairly relevant in this instance - people will definitely be looking for 1) expertise/reassurance that you won't mess up their house further, and 2) a fair price. So certifications, insurance and comparison tools would be neat to place front and center.

    There are a bunch of good opt-in landing page examples here as well: 25 Smart Landing Pages for Collecting Leads
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  • Profile picture of the author KingOfContentMarketing
    Red- some threads back Andrew Gould recommended this book:

    Do the Web Write: Writing for and Marketing Your...Do the Web Write: Writing for and Marketing Your...

    It has some good advice on which pages to include on your site and what order to put them in for highest conversion.
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    Marketing is not a battle of products. It is a battle of perceptions.
    - Jack Trout
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    • Profile picture of the author Andrew Gould
      Originally Posted by Joe Ditzel View Post

      Red- some threads back Andrew Gould recommended this book:
      Smart guy. I'd listen to him.

      Another good read along similar lines is this one:

      Letting Go of the Words, Second Edition: Writing...Letting Go of the Words, Second Edition: Writing...

      And this is an interesting mix of "normal" web design, direct response, and SEO:

      Convert!: Designing Web Sites to Increase Traffic...Convert!: Designing Web Sites to Increase Traffic...
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      Andrew Gould

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      • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
        Red, you may be going down a rabbit hole
        which ends up not getting what you want.

        Here's why.

        You'll probably not know a number of things what the marketer did to get people
        to their website.

        One might have had a lot of pre-selling through articles, guest appearances on radio, blogs.

        Another could have a email list he sends traffic to the website.

        Another may have cold traffic sent to the web page you look at.

        So with these different situations,
        modelling can be guesswork unless you know what goes in behind the scenes.

        You could just do your own split testing and see which of your own pages convert best.

        Marketing Experiments have over 1,000 case studies and knowledge base what they learnt from them.

        Many key principles shown there.

        Best,
        Ewen
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