Before and After: Author Website Glow Up for Heather Cameron
Here’s another peek behind the scenes of my popular Author Website Glow Up service.
Heather Cameron writes YA Historical Fantasy and is currently seeking agent representation for her debut, Iolar: the Eagle with the Sunlit Eye. Heather also writes poetry and creative nonfiction, and has traveled extensively to research her work.
To begin building her author platform and demonstrate professionalism when she contacts agents, Heather knew her website needed some improvements.
Before working with me, Heather said:
“I have a very hit-and-miss ability with technology. A few years ago I wrote a YA Historical Fantasy Novel set in 4th century Ireland. It was my thesis for an MFA in Creative Writing. So far, it's unpublished.
I want my website to showcase the Travel Narrative, (aka 'Blog') outlining where I went, and why, for the background research for my novel. The goal is to establish credibility for a potential publisher, and readers.
I want my site to look professional, and to be able to 'grow' with me. I was inspired by your own story, and thought you might be a good fit.”
What is the one day Author Website “Glow Up” service?
Authors like Heather hire me to bring their DIY Squarespace website up to a truly professional level, including best-practice pages and functionality for authors, quickly and smoothly.
My single day Glow Up package is designed to swoop in and rescue your amateurish or outdated Squarespace website. If you have neither the time nor the skill to improve your site so that readers and agents take you seriously, that’s where I come in.
Using my years of Squarespace experience, I’ll take your existing website and turn it into a polished, compelling online presence that helps you connect with readers, agents, the media, and (if applicable), potential clients.
Let’s take a look at how Heather’s Glow Up turned out:
AFTER: a professional, beautiful design for Heather and her YA Historical Fantasy novel
AFTER: More screenshots, showing these author website pages after our Glow Up day (click to enlarge):
What “before” problems did we solve?
Heather was definitely struggling to show her work using Squarespace, and her initial website had only a few pieces in place.
Aside from a rather uninspiring color scheme, she was confused about the name of the website versus the name of her travel narrative (blog), and how to stop the blog from showing as the website home page.
What I did:
Established beautiful, on-brand colors: we tested alternate color schemes and Heather chose the final palette
Fixed the website name and blog name, to read Heather Cameron and Travel Narrative, respectively
Created a proper About, Contact, and Privacy page, boosting Heather’s professionalism
Sourced a representative image for the novel (given that Heather does not yet have a book cover)
Sourced (free) blog image photos, and created a website footer featuring other images of Ireland
Created a proper introduction for the travel narrative, and hid the blog dates so that it reads as an evergreen essay series
Reformatted Heather’s “monk” icon for sizing & aesthetics
Removed all the default Squarespace images and placeholder text (these always reveal a DIY site!)
Put basic SEO settings in place, so that Google views Heather’s website as reliable and high quality
Tested and adjusted every page for mobile repsonsiveness.
And here’s what Heather said about her refreshed writer website, afterward:
“It was a fantastic experience. I am wonderfully pleased by everything you accomplished! Thank you so very, very much.”
BEFORE: Heather was really struggling to get Squarespace to show her work in an attractive, professional way.
Ready for your own website “Glow Up”?
If your website needs professional rescue, it’s straightforward to book me for a day to work some magic like this:
Make sure your website uses Squarespace (for now, that’s the only platform where I offer this service)
I’ll take a look at your site, and let you know whether I can help
If we’re a match, you’ll pick your date from my online calendar, pay a deposit to reserve that time, and prepare your wishlist for me to work on
We’ll meet and make a plan, about a week before your Glow Up day
Other popular resources to improve your author website:
Save 10% off your first subscription for a Squarespace website by using the code PAULINE10
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