Case study: knitting together a tour de force
If you’re looking for a bestselling author website example case study, then settle in!
Lucy Adlington is a clothes historian, presenter and New York Times best-selling author of The Dressmakers of Auschwitz. With a book launch on the horizon, Lucy wanted to make sure her website was as professional as possible.
She loved the existing clean design of a white background with a single red ribbon twirling down the side. So any new content would need to fit around it. This wasn’t a problem for me. I have some basic coding experience, so can grasp what is possible to change, and what isn’t, within a web design.
Kindred spirits?
I’m a keen reader, history fan and Historical Novel Society volunteer. I’ve also been known to dress up in historically inspired outfits. So I was delighted to put my experience to good use.
As Lucy lives near York, my Chat – Research – Write process could be done in person, which was a real plus. We had a fantastic morning together, where we discovered we were both University of Cambridge English graduates. In fact Lucy had studied two colleges down from me on the River Cam!
Home page boost
Her existing home page only featured links to Fiction and History. I suggested merging these two into Books, and creating an Upcoming section. Readers are always fascinated about an author’s journey into writing. So I wanted to draw attention to her About section.
Another string to Lucy’s bow is that she’s a fantastic presenter and speaker. It was therefore important to stress how she can be booked for events, podcasts, radio and TV interviews. To do this, Get in touch was given a prominent position on the home page.
Navigational challenges
The existing navigation structure had evolved over to the years into something which could confuse a potential reader. For example, the links to Lucy’s published books were located within a Projects section.
Her books were also split into Fiction and History – as in non-fiction. I opted for one clear Books section because:
- authors tend to compartmentalise, whereas readers happily hop between genres if they like the author’s writing style
- listing all the books together gives readers the experience of browsing a bookstore
- seeing the sheer number of books Lucy has published reassures readers that she has talent!
I also suggested merging news and projects into a new section called Latest. Doing this would:
- reduce Lucy’s time updating so many different pages in the future
- solve the problem of ‘Projects’ implying ‘Work in Progress’ rather than finished books
- still allow a place for future projects to be mentioned
Side-stepping the cannibals
Within the Projects section, there was a sub section for Lucy’s other events business of The History Wardrobe. This seemed overkill given it already had its own separate website.
The repetition could also lead to Google robot confusion. Where should they point someone searching for “The History Wardrobe”? This quandary, known as ‘keyword cannibalisation’, can lead to lower rankings.
The solution? I added a section called The History Wardrobe within the new Latest section. And then linked to the website from there.
Sorting out the bookshelves
Some of the existing book listings had reviews. Others didn’t. The introductions of some were very detailed, whereas others had none. I therefore standardised the ‘recipe’ for each book listing to be:
- The book’s title
- Genre – such as historical non-fiction
- Introduction
- Reviews – some of which I retrieved from news articles
- A clear Call to Action for the reader of an affiliate Buy link
- A useful links section, if relevant, to articles or YouTube videos
A department store of puns
It’s always fun to weave in the language of a client’s sector or theme into the content. Lucy’s focus on historical costume gave lots of fun opportunities. Some headlines I suggested included:
- Patching together forgotten stories from the fabric of time
- Freshly laundered from The History Wardrobe
- News catwalk
- Teasing out the truth from the fabric of history
Bestselling author website example: my highlight
I loved pulling together Lucy’s impressive back catalogue of books. Giving each book equal weight and prominence truly let them shine.
My research also unearthed a YouTube clip of Lucy of she had no idea existed. This now takes pride of place on her About page.
Lucy's verdict
“Smart, professional, creative… Helen was a pleasure to work with, helping craft a dynamic, interesting and up-to-date website and leaving me free to do the projects I love the most. Her ability to turn ideas into reality was very much appreciated.”
Results
Google success
Three weeks after the refresh went live, Lucy’s website was third in Google for a particular key phrase. Before the changes, she hadn’t been ranking in the top 20.
More success for Lucy
And as for that upcoming book? Four Red Sweaters: Powerful True Stories of Women and the Holocaust became another instant New York Times bestseller. Huge congratulations Lucy!
Take a look for yourself
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