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New author website (Patreon)

Published:
2021-01-04 19:21:48
Imported:
2023-04

Content

Feedback from authors and readers said I needed to update my website to be more competitive in the MM genre. Sharon and I created a new website on Wix. It hasn't gone public yet but I wanted to let you guys check it out first. Let me know if you have any suggestions or feedback.



Sorry: Forgot the web address. https://adriennewilder.wixsite.com/homepage


Comments

Anonymous

I'm on my phone so I may not be able to see it, but did you post the link to the site? It looks fantastic, by the way!

Anonymous

Could you post a link, please? Thank you.

Anonymous

Thank you for inviting us to give feedback. I hope you don't regret asking! Full disclosure, I own a marketing agency and this is what I do for a living, so feel free to take everything with a grain of salt. *cracks knuckles* Overall impression - It looks nice. Beautiful background - inviting and mysterious without being distracting. That is really hard to do on a website! I also love the logo name - it looks painted, which reinforces your brand. One thing I would recommend is that you do a brief exercise to think about who might be coming to your site, and what they would be looking for. For example, I generally go to the author's page when I am on a book high after just reading a book or series, and I want a little more before I go back to the real world. I am looking for info about the next book in the series, or a little snippet about a side character, or unique content related to the series. Basically, if you as the author create a resource for yourself when writing a book, like a list of characters and how they are related, or a map or a lingo guide, I want to see that too!!! The current incarnation is a little dry. The bio has personality, but the rest of it is just the facts, Ma'am. This is you representing yourself to the world, so it's perfectly OK to write directly from you to your fans. It doesn't need to be corporate. The fact is that the worlds of Adrienne Wilder are a blend of flavors, not individual components of separate information. I think by breaking everything up you are doing your work a disservice. What makes your work so amazing is the worlds that you build - they transport the reader to a place that feels and smells and tastes real. Why break that down into component recipe elements when you could present baked goods instead? Instead of an Art page, a Patreon page, a Freebies page, and book series pages, why not combine them into the delicious batch of cookies only you can make? In that scenario, the menu would change to include the worlds. [HOME] [WORLDS] [All BOOKS] [ART] [ABOUT ADRIENNE] [CONTACT] Your worlds are so rich, and the various series pages go straight into the books. I think it would add a lot to the site to add something about the world the series is set in before you jump into the books. I would even go so far as to recommend the world gets its own page that links to the various books set in it, so that each book gets its own page. (This would dramatically improve your SEO for the book title names, since the pages wouldn't be competing for a bunch of keyword phrases at once.) You could also use the series pages to push your Patreon account. You have so much artwork and materials created for the individual series, it would be awesome if you integrated teasers into the series pages instead of relegating that art to the art page without any context. I would add a section like this: "Want more? Not ready to leave the world of Bound Gods? When you become a patron, you'll not only help out your new favorite author, you can get access to the web comic Doxie Diaries, original artwork and story snippets plus more Adrienne Wilder originals!" Then add small samples of the artwork (like thumbnails) and a button to join Patreon. For the design and layout, most of the parts that you need are here, but some are disjointed or disconnected in a way that takes the viewer out of the experience. Overall Experience ------------------ - The logo on the homepage is amazing, but it disappears on all interior pages. This is bad because you cannot guarantee that a viewer will be coming in to the home page. If they search a specific book title in Google, they are bound to pop in on the series page, and there is no mention of your name there. I would add a smaller version of the name logo above the menu on all interior pages. - Simlarly, the titles of all your pages are all "[pagename] | Homepage" - The site title should be something like "Author Adrienne Wilder" so that the title of a page when someone bookmarks it or opens it in a tab on their browser, or clicks a link on a Google Search result shows the page and site name (e.g. Books | Author Adrienne Wilder) - The site has a separate mobile and desktop mode, but the desktop version appears to be matching the mobile. You could resolve this by making the site responsive (so elements stack in mobile, but fill up the space on desktop) or just by editing the desktop version to take up the available space a little more. - The mobile version seems to have a wierd glitch where the background image resizes when you scroll down - You need a footer that has your copyright, as well as any global call to action you want the visitor to take, such as subscribe to my blog or newsletter. (You could also add your logo here if you really don't want to put it on top of all the interior pages.) Homepage -------- - The homepage needs more copy. Specifically something that explains the purpose of the site, and will rank for keywords using your name and provide some direction to the viewer. You could resolve this with just a simple intro paragraph plus section headers with clickable images below them, like "New Releases By Adrienne Wilder", "Popular Series by Adrienne Wilder", etc. - Another thing I would add on the homepage is a feed that shows an excerpt of either your latest blog post or your recent social media posts (whichever is more active). Google rewards sites that are frequently updated by ranking them higher in search results page, so you want something on your homepage that will update the content regularly. Books ----- - In mobile view, the categotires take up most of the vertical space, and you cannot get rid of them. Might consider making them a submenu on the main menu instead of at the top of the books page. That, or consider putting each category in tabs or an accordian. - The rollover colors on the buttons for all of the book series is a very low contrast. For people that are colorblind, this would be impossible to read. - Grammar - Let's in the Light series (remove apostrophe) and change period to question mark on the Wild description. - The book series pages are the first thing that completely take you out of the new site. I think they would work a lot better if they matched the design of the rest of the site (such as the About page). - The printable book list is great! I would recommend you add box style bullet points, so readers can check off which ones they already own/ have read. - This is just a personal peeve: it would be nice if it were clear what are full length novels and what are short stories. Maybe a # of words or pages in the book description? About ----- - Add links to the Patreon, Instagram and Facebook references Blog ----- - If you are planning on hosting the new site on your own domain (which I strongly recommend, since it is currently redirecting to your blogspot) then you should move your blog from blogspot to your new host. Blogspot is notorious for hijacking SEO authority from your domain. You could move all the posts to your new blog or just set a cutoff date and post on the Blogspot blog that your blog has moved to adriennewilder.com. Not only will this help raise your ranking, it will also allow you to maintain the look and feel of the site so the transition to the blog isn't so jarring. If you do decide to keep the blog on blogspot, change the link to add a 'new tab' target. That way, visitors are not redirected away from your site when they click on the blog link. Contact ------- - This page looks nothing like the rest of the site. I recommend matching the design of the About page. Also, instead of just the names of the various social channels, change to their logo icons. For the ones that aren't already in Wix, you can grab them by Googling "redbubble icon" and just add the picture at the icon size and link the image to your profile. - No newsletter to subscribe to? Or even subscribe to the blog? I think this is a missed opportunity, and I would even add it to the homepage or the footer so it's on every page. That's it. I hope that helps. Sorry for the book :(

AuthorAdrienneWilder
>>50843304

MinionS here! OMG, this is so awesome. Thank you for such detailed feedback...I know web design is your job, but offering so much advice for free is much appreciated. This is my first time building a "professional" website. (Adrienne's current one I set up years ago because he didn't have an up to date one. I was just getting all the important info onto the limited Blogspot platform because that's the only one I know how to use. We are slowly learning Wix (so nice!) I plan on going through all your suggestions one by one and try to implement what we can. There are a few things I didn't quite understand what you were talking about so I will have to ask you to clarify what you mean if that's okay.  I don't want to be greedy lol. You've been more than generous with your time.  There are some things I had planned on adding once I find the time for (newsletter signup links everywhere!) The blog will be the last to get fixed. I want to move it to the new platform but I needed to get the main site done first. I do plan on making the blog site match the new theme as much as possible soon.  So glad you like the theme, Adrienne came up with all that and the design.  Again, thank you!   Now, off to figure out how footers work! lol

Anonymous

I am happy to help clarify or answer any questions! I can give you my contact info too if you'd like. I know this isn't really the forum for it :)

Anonymous

I like the website. It is more professional looking than your old one. Easier to navigate too.