Next Level Website Design – Book Review

Is your website converting visitors into hot leads and sales?

If not, you may be wondering what’s wrong with it, so you head to Amazon and type in “website design – book” or “website conversions – book.” Suddenly, you’re paralyzed with choice. There are dozens of books on this topic.

Most of those books look very similar. However, there’s one book that caught your eye…

‘Next-Level Website Design’ by Greg Merrilees

So you search Google for it or ask AI to find reviews, which is why we’ve decided to write this book review post…

And ‘Yes, this is a biased review – Greg Merrilees is the CEO of Studio1’, but hey, you too might want to copy this idea to get more organic traffic. =)

In this post, we’re going to unpack what’s unique about the book so you can make an informed decision about whether or not it’s worth a look.  So let’s dive in…

What is ‘Next Level Website Design’ All About?

Backed by real-world experience, this website design book breaks down five core principles that consistently turn underperforming websites into revenue-generating machines.

From working with Hollywood A-listers’ websites to helping a reputable law firm multiply its case intake, Greg Merrilees shares the strategic frameworks that separate industry leaders from their competitors.

Why Does This Book Matter Right Now?

While AI makes it easier than ever to build websites, everyone has access to the same tools, templates, and “best practices.” The result? Most niches are flooded with similar-looking websites that fail to convert visitors into leads and sales.

While your competitors struggle with pretty websites that don’t perform, you can gain an unfair advantage by reading this book and understanding what actually drives purchasing decisions.

While AI can now build websites in minutes, 99% of them look the same 0 generic, forgettable, and untrustworthy. While your competitors churn out cookie-cutter AI-generated websites, timeless strategic design principles become your competitive differentiator. 

What it isn’t About

This book doesn’t promise overnight success or chase design trends like animations, parallax effects with elements flying everywhere, video backgrounds, and immersive 3D scenes that make you go ‘Wow, that looks amazing!’

All those fancy effects might impress you; however, those overdone effects often slow down your website and distract visitors from the one thing that actually matters – taking action on your website.

The book is not about which website platforms, page builders, plug-ins, SEO, or any of the tech stuff for building a website.

What is Unique About ‘Next Level Website Design’?

Next Level Website Design is a practical, no-fluff guide for how to design your website to turn it into a high-converting asset. It focuses on timeless psychological principles that drive human decision-making, principles that work in any niche. 

The book states that 97% of websites still fail to convert. Visitors aren’t ready to buy when they first visit your website, yet most websites are designed like digital brochures rather than relationship-building tools. 

Case studies throughout the book show how businesses leave enormous revenue on the table simply because their websites don’t address the three critical questions every visitor has: “Can I trust you?” and “Why should I choose you over your competitors?”

The Book Focuses on Five Website Design Principles

This book gives you the clarity and principles to make smarter website design decisions, whether you’re using AI tools or working with a design team, so you can stop guessing and start getting results.

Principle 1: Deep Audience Understanding

The book emphasizes that your audience isn’t thinking about you. They’re thinking, “What’s in it for me?” It shows how a Pilates instructor named Mary unlocked 30% revenue growth and doubled her class schedule in six months by tapping into her clients’ emotional and physical needs.

Principle 2: Psychological Influences

People buy with emotion and justify with logic, and Greg shows exactly how to design for both. By applying these principles to saxophone teacher Nigel McGill’s website, he helped generate over 1,000 new paying members and 25,000+ email subscribers in just 12 months.

 Principle 3: Marketing Strategy

The Property Couch podcast hosts, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley, had a loyal audience, but their website wasn’t converting. After a strategic website redesign with a “lead with value” approach using free resources and lead magnets, their business grew from under 20 to over 140 team members.

Principle 4: Brand Positioning

The book reveals how businesses must “zig while competitors zag” to avoid commodity pricing. The Yosha Law firm, despite being founded by Indiana’s most legendary trial lawyers, their generic website was generating only 12 cases per year. After redesigning their website to position their brand strategically, they signed 16 high-value cases in their first month.

Principle 5: Conversion-Focused Design

Every element on your website should guide a visitor toward action. The book highlights Kamari Swimwear’s website transformation – where redesigning everything from mobile menus to product pages led to a 24% revenue boost and a 135% jump in order volume.

Perhaps most importantly, the book argues that websites are never finished, and that’s exactly what makes them powerful. 

The book reveals how ongoing improvements to Enterprise Fitness’s website led to a 64% increase in consultation bookings, a 93% boost in mobile conversions, and a 38% drop in bounce rate.

What Are Each of the Chapters All About?

The book is 333 pages and is laid out in a logical order so that it’s easy to follow along, with each chapter building on the previous one.

Chapter 1‍: Your Visitors Care About One Thing

• Discover how one business doubled its conversions – using nothing but the strategies inside this book
• Step into your visitors’ minds: what they’re really thinking when they land on your website (and how to turn that into sales)
• Pinpoint the silent killers on your website that are costing you clicks, customers, and cash – plus how to fix them fast

Chapter 2: My Business Rollercoaster

• The $100,000 debt that should have destroyed me – and how hitting rock bottom became the catalyst for designing websites for Hollywood A-listers
• How one blunt question from my mentor rewired the way I do business
• What Yoda taught me about the hidden psychology that separates million-dollar brands from failures

Chapter 3: Understanding Your Audience

• The “invisible barrier” that stops 97% of visitors from buying – and the 3-word phrase that destroys it instantly
• Why your biggest competitor isn’t another business (it’s this psychological blind spot that costs sales without knowing why)
• The “empathy equation” that turns strangers into raving fans who wholeheartedly want you to take their money

Chapter 4: Psychological Influences

• How we used Robert Cialdini’s influence principles that added 1000 new members to a musician’s membership in 12 months
• 7 psychological triggers so powerful they feel like “mind control” (but are completely ethical and authentic)
• The scarcity mistake that kills conversions instantly – and the right way to create urgency that drives action

Chapter 5: Marketing Strategy

• The “Property Couch Method”: How leading with value landed me celebrity clients and a profitable investment portfolio
• Why “selling on hello” is business suicide – and the 3-step formula that turns cold traffic into hot buyers
• The lead magnet strategy that’s so valuable, that prospects will think you’re crazy for giving it away for free‍

Chapter 6: Brand Positioning

• The repositioning of a top-tier law firm’s brand and website helped them go from 12 cases a year to 16 in their first month
• Jay Abraham’s billion-dollar secret: The 3 levers that can 10x your business (most people only pull one)
• How to find your “only factor” – the unique position that makes competitors irrelevant

Chapter 7: How To Create a Memorable Visual Brand

• Why 99% of “pretty” websites fail to convert – and the 5-step blueprint that creates brands people obsess over
• The power of a mood board and a brand style guide – how to use them to create a cohesive and impactful brand experience
• Color psychology secrets that subconsciously influence buying decisions (most businesses get this completely wrong)

Chapter 8: Conversion-Focused Design

• The “Enterprise Effect”: How one fitness studio doubled conversions by making visitors think less, not more
• 5 psychological design triggers that turn browsers into buyers (used by the world’s highest-converting websites)
• The split-testing secret sauce that took a consultation form from 32% drop-off to 85% completion rate

Chapter 9: Essential Website Page Structures

• The “invisible architecture” that guides visitors to buy without them realizing they’re being influenced
• Why your About page might be your most powerful sales tool (and the timeline technique that proves your authority)
• The Thank You page strategy that 99% of businesses waste (and how to turn it into your secret conversion weapon)

Chapter 10: Services Business Websites

• The “qualification funnel” that eliminates tire-kickers and fills your calendar with dream clients only
• The pre-suasion psychological triggers that make prospects choose you before they even call (your competitors have no idea these exist)
• Expert design strategies for your service business and funnel pages to turn cold traffic into hot leads

Chapter 11: Online Business Websites

• Strategies to attract and convert cold traffic with funnels and ascension models that convert into sales while you sleep
• Risk reversal strategies that crush doubt and make saying “yes” to your offer a no-brainer, even when prospects can’t contact you quickly
• How to segment your audience and send them to landing pages tailored to their needs, turning more visitors into buyers

Chapter 12: Personal Brand Websites

• The personal brand advantage in today’s AI-driven world and why authentic expertise becomes your irreplaceable competitive differentiator
• How to balance professional authority with genuine personality while creating clear pathways for coaching, speaking, and publishing opportunities
• Website page structures that transform personal expertise into sustainable revenue through strategic positioning, trust-building, and conversion optimization‍

Chapter 13: eCommerce Websites

• Why relying solely on Amazon’s ever-changing rules is a recipe for disaster(and how to build a sellable asset instead)
• The “pre-sell sequence” that turns skeptical browsers into eager buyers before they see your product
• How to create a community of raving fans who become your unpaid sales force, making your brand the go-to choice in your market

Chapter 14: Extra Conversion-Boosters

• The mobile mistake that’s costing you 55% of potential sales (fix this and watch your traffic and conversions soar)
• Video formulas that build more trust in 3 minutes than most websites do in 3 months
• A treasure trove of conversion-boosting tips to maximize your results, plus the conversion killers to avoid at all costs

Chapter 15: Your Website is Never Finished

• The “conversion intelligence” system that continuously optimizes your website while you focus on your business
• How to turn your website into a learning machine that gets smarter and more profitable every month
• The testing framework for compound growth that never stops, while eliminating expensive mistakes

Whether you run a service-based business, an ecommerce store, an online brand, or a personal brand, Next Level Website Design will help you improve website conversions and turn your website into your most effective sales tool.

Bonus Features Inside Next Level Website Design

Inside your copy of Next Level Website Design, you’ll have access to some helpful extra free resources. These include an AI interactive author, which lets you ask questions about your website and get quick answers, as well as the full book uploaded for easy reference. These resources are there to make it easier for you to apply what you learn.

Conclusion

If your website isn’t converting, Next Level Website Design shows you exactly why and how to fix it. 

The book strips away the guesswork and replaces it with strategic website design principles that work across all industries.

You’ll learn what actually moves the needle, and what just looks good on screen.

No matter how you design your website – with AI, a freelancer, or a team – this book ensures you’re building it on the right foundation.

Because without the right foundation, even the best-looking website can quietly kill your sales.

Once you see what’s inside, you won’t look at your website (or your competitors’) the same way again.

Your Website Needs To Work Harder Than You Do

If your website feels more like an expensive digital brochure than a revenue-generating asset, this book provides the roadmap for transforming it into a 24/7 sales machine.

The question isn’t whether these principles work; it’s how much business you’re leaving on the table and sending to your competitors by not having a conversion-focused website.

It’s the kind of read that shifts how you see every website, and gives you the tools to finally fix your own and boost your results.

The author of this book is also the CEO of Studio1 Design, and we created this article to help more people discover the book and its benefits. If you have any questions about the book, would like to share your feedback, or are interested in bulk purchases, please reach out to us through our contact page. We’d love to hear from you!

The book is available in most countries:

• here on Amazon U.S.
• here on Amazon Australia
• here on Amazon U.K
• here on Amazon Canada
• and most other countries.

The audiobook will be available in the last week of August 2025.

If you’d like to interview Greg on your podcast or YouTube show, you can book here.

We really hope you enjoy the book. If you have any questions or opportunities for collaboration, reach out to our team here.