Case Study: Why We Moved Colleen Sehy’s Author Website from Carrd to Squarespace
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It was my pleasure recently to work on a major website refresh for my client, author Colleen Sehy.
Colleen is a writer, speaker, and lifelong Anglophile with a passion for discovering traces of the British Isles in America. She's the author of Finding Shakespeare in America, with more titles, including Finding Ireland in America, coming soon.
When we first worked together several years ago, we created Colleen’s author website using a tool called Carrd.co
Carrd is a simple, elegant, and cost-effective option that served Colleen well during the early stages of building her author presence. I’m a big fan of Carrd. It’s ideal for minimalist websites—particularly one-page designs—and can be a perfect solution for writers who want to establish a no-frills online presence.
But as Colleen’s author aspirations grew, her website needs evolved.
She wanted to:
Add new pages to showcase upcoming book titles
Host a blog to share insights and travel recaps
Improve SEO visibility to attract more organic traffic
Offer a Speaker Page and Media Kit
Include an Events listing for occasional author appearances
Leave the door open to sell books directly from her website, in future
That’s why we decided it was time to migrate her site to Squarespace.
Why Squarespace is now the right choice for Colleen’s author website
Squarespace is a powerful, all-in-one website platform that offers:
A visual, modern, and professional design framework
The ability to manage multiple pages and more complex navigation
Built-in features like blogging, SEO tools, contact forms, file downloads, appointment scheduling, and e-commerce
An intuitive editor that’s friendly for authors who want to make occasional updates themselves
Centralized, free support and automatic security updates
For Colleen, Squarespace meant we could:
Build out this robust Speaker Page to highlight her expertise and invite event bookings
Create a clear and attractive Media Kit with downloadable photos for journalists and podcast hosts
Add a Blog, showing articles and inspiration from Colleen’s lifelong love of the British Isles
Set up an (easy to edit) Events page to promote upcoming appearances
Include a page for forthcoming books, with flexibility to expand as new titles are released
Future-proof the site for a simple online store, should she choose to sell books directly to readers, later on
Add a custom 404 “Not Found” page (see it here, I really love it!)
Add an announcement bar, highlighting Colleen’s lead magnet (and this message is very easy to update, when she has a new book to promote)
Below: pages from Colleen’s new Squarespace website
Why Carrd no longer fit Colleen’s author needs
Although Carrd is a wonderful choice for simple author websites, it has key limitations:
Carrd can show content in a way that imitates multiple pages, but it’s intended primarily for single-page layouts, or a handful of pages at most. This makes scaling difficult, navigation is challenging, and making edits can get cumbersome.
It doesn’t support blogging, which is now a strong interest for Colleen.
SEO functionality is limited, primarily because search engines interpret a Carrd website as having only one page.
It lacks advanced navigation features like dropdown menus and structured content.
While Carrd is affordable (and offers surprising flexibility for what you pay), it’s not built for long-term growth when your author platform needs to expand.
Below: pages from Colleen’s older Carrd website
Design tweaks and content overhaul
Colleen already had beautiful “Anglophile in America” branding, so we kept that and simply freshened up the design and added more color, for a more current look. She also worked really hard to review and update all of her existing website wording.
The Result
Colleen’s new Squarespace site maintains a clean, approachable aesthetic while now supporting the full range of her author-speaker brand. The structure is ready to grow with her—whether that’s adding new books, blog content, media features, or a simple book shop in the future.
After our project, Colleen said:
“Thanks and kudos to Pauline for helping me on this website journey! This is the second time we've worked together and she truly is brilliant at designing author websites! She also inspired me as I to return to writing full-time after a long, unavoidable hiatus.”
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If you are an author who is now beyond the “just one page” phase, Squarespace offers the polish and professionalism needed to support your growing public presence. Just like Colleen, you might find that a move to Squarespace gives your website the breathing room it needs, to truly reflect your evolving career.
Considering a platform change to help you sell more books?
If you're wondering whether it’s time to move on from your current website tool—or you’re starting fresh and want to make the right platform choice for your goals—I’d be happy to help. My clients are proud owners of author websites that engage their readers and set them up for business results.
So if you're an author who would like a truly professional online home with none of the technical headaches of figuring it out on your own, please get in touch.
I offer a free introductory call where we can explore your needs, tech comfort, and future plans. Learn more, and then schedule a complimentary chat with me.
Let’s find the right website solution for you!
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