Personalized profitable websites for authors
A few of my blog posts are attracting lots of visitors to my website each week, but they are older posts. Come behind the scenes. You’ll see want is working now and discover what will make my top performing posts even better. Step-by-step video below.
You can’t improve what you can’t measure. Thankfully there’s Google Analytics so you can see your top performing pages.
What can you expect to pay for small business website?
It depends on what you need.
If you only need a blog, you could create a website for free by signing up with Medium, or WordPress.com (not WordPress.org: big difference).
Most independent professionals need more than a blog, however. They need a website that attracts more customers, and they need to move beyond their first website that may have been built by young family relative who did not have marketing experience.
If you’ve been in business for at least three years, ask yourself:
There are so many choices when it comes to building a website. When you’re just starting out it’s difficult to know which one is right for you and your business.
My choice for building a business website is WordPress. Here’s why.
Click here to download the same checklist I use to build business websites.
Business owners who complain that people can’t find their website and so they aren’t making the income they expected, typically one or all of these problems:
Search engine robots have always loved WordPress because WordPress speaks code. That means if you know how to optimize your business website for SEO you will have a better chance of being found online.
WordPress also integrates with the best 3rd party software solutions that help build your list, market your business, and sell more products and services.
For business websites to be effective they need to make money while you sleep.
WooCommerce is a shopping cart plugin that comes downloaded with each new version of WordPress. WooCommerce creates beautiful product and sales pages, and they make it easy to set up and collect payments.
But the problem is most website visitors are not ready to buy when they first come to your website.
So what should you do?
Give them something for free in exchange for their email address.
WordPress easily integrates with many 3rd party software solutions that build your list of prospects by capturing their names and email address. Once you have their email addresses you can continue the conversation which gives you a better chance of closing a sale.
Carol and her daughter created Carol’s first business website using GoDaddy’s website builder. They choose a prebuilt, drag and drop template. The same type you may have see advertised about how easy it is to create a business website in a few hours.
Using drag and drop website templates is easy if you have built websites before. You can even build a website in a weekend if your text and images are all set to go.
Instead of taking a few hours, it took Carol and her daughter days to complete her home page. Carol was happy with the overall look of her Home page but she was never happy with her About page.
Neither Carol of her daughter were able to figure out how to left justify her text, which made her About page difficult to read.
Nor did they know where to put her Privacy statement. In frustration and exhaustion they decided to ‘just put it there’…
Carol wanted to launch her copywriting services using the Product Launch Formula method. She needed to update her site and begin to build her list.
The problem was:
She also needed a new free offer and a landing page to capture her prospects names and email addresses. She had a lead capture form on her GoDaddy website but she did not know where the names and email addresses went, once she got them.
LeadPages was highly recommended by one of Carol’s Launch Club coaches, as a way to capture names and email addresses, but it did not integrate with GoDaddy’s proprietary website builder.
Carol was stuck.
Fortunately she met Tracie, a launch tech expert who guided Carol though the process of setting Carol up for launch success.
The first step was to switch from GoDaddy’s drag and drop builder to a WordPress website because WordPress integrated with the other programs Carol needed in her wheelhouse: 3rd party programs like ActiveCampaign to build her list, and LeadPages to create landing pages that captured names and email addresses.
FYI: I do not use ActiveCampaign or LeadPages, and that’s what makes WordPress so great. WordPress integrates with dozens of email hosts and landing page builders. Often times, it’s not the 3rd party software that moves your business forward: What moves you business forward is choosing one program, learning how to use it, and keep building momentum in a way that works for you.
I was thrilled that Carol reached out to me because I also knew that her WordPress site could grow with her business. Her SEO would improve immediately. Plus, I could easily add a shopping cart and a payment processor when Carol was ready to take payments.
For now, Carol is focused on building her list of prospects so that she can launch her copywriting services using the Product Launch Formula.
To transition Carol from a website built with a GoDaddy drag and drop template to WordPress I first set up a WordPress development site on GoDaddy.
Why GoDaddy?
Carol bought her domain name from GoDaddy, and that’s also where her GoDaddy drag and drop website was hosted. There was no need to change hosts because GoDaddy has many hosting options including including WordPress. Their support is also first rate, too. Whether you prefer to ask questions by phone or online chat, they are super helpful and patient.
The next step was to choose a WordPress theme that would be compatible with Carol’s copywriting services. I’m a huge fan of StudioPress themes because their themes are designed for online business.
I mocked up a few themes from which Carol chose Kreativ Pro.
Carol told me what copy and images she wanted to keep from her GoDaddy website, and gave me new text to populate the rest of the website. Based on her copy and our discussions about her business goals, I chose additional images from Course Creator Market.
It’s great to work this way:
Carol’s new WordPress website did not go live until Carol was completely satisfied with the new look.
Hi, it’s Nancy Fields. I’m excited to show you a website that I’ve been working on with my customer, Carol Richards, who’s a copywriter.
On the left-hand side you’ll see her new WordPress website and the right is a site that was built with a drag and drop template from GoDaddy. By default Carol’s new WordPress theme placed the copy directly over her image and followed by a subhead and a call to action button.
Carol’s Go Daddy theme leads with the quote and then follows with a bold statement. So that’s quite different.
The WordPress theme allows for a tagline. The tagline is what you see under the big heading “Copy By Carol.” What’s great about the tagline is that it gives search engine robots more information as to what the site is about. That’s always a big plus for your SEO.
One of the biggest changes was in the flow of the information.
You’ll see it says “79% of us feel more productive.” Carol really loved that quote, but that quote got lost. It was down further on her page. We brought that further up.
Also, instead of following with the testimonials that you see here, we took her information as to how she can help people, and added that to her quote for greater impact. Then we gave more interest to the quotes by saying, “Listen to this,” and pulling it in with the quote feature from WordPress that shows these great, big, huge quote marks.
And the other thing I want to point out as well, if you notice here on the right, Carol has different offerings from her old website. Her business has changed. She no longer wants to offer all six services. She wants to focus on three.
As you grow in your business it is very common to narrow the focus of what you’re offering, as well as the customers that you want to serve.
So this is keeping right in line with what Carol wants to do.
And the other thing that we looked at: Carol really loved her old typewriter here and this quote to pull people in, “I hate to write.” Instead of leaving it higher up, we decided to have it go after her quotes, making more of a statement.
“Did we hear you say, I hate to write?” We put the same copy underneath that, and also added another button.
If you think about bullet points and what you actually remember when you see a list of bulleted items, chances are, you will only remember the first and the last bullet. So I’m really treating this typewriter and Carol’s favorite image as a strong bullet point.
That’s going to end her website homepage.
I’m going to scroll back up at the top of Carol’s website. And I want you to look at this navigation menu. This called a sticky header. And what that means is, as I scroll, notice that the navigation continues to follow all of the information that Carol has on the page.
That’s unlike her GoDaddy website, in which the navigation menu is at the top. It’s in this hamburger menu, but it doesn’t follow the rest of her copy. So I thought this was also a really great feature.
The other thing that I liked about the new navigation menu is I put in a call to action button in her navigation menu. This button will appear on every page. And this is important because Carol is focused on building her list because she is preparing to launch her service using the Product Launch Formula. And that requires that she has an active and engaged email list. The way to build it is through her website.
I wanted to show you is why we chose this particular (hero) image. And for that, I’m going to go to Carol’s dashboard. Under appearance and customize WordPress offers you the ability to see what your homepage images will look like under desktop, tablet and mobile view.
Not only can you see it, you can actually experience it. So many people are viewing websites on their mobile phone, it’s really important to get the right image, and to get an image that’s going to look good on all three platforms.
The reason why I chose this one, even though it’s probably not the most exciting image as a desktop, but when you get down to mobile, you see these big words, “Are you still interested in getting your copy read?”
You’ll see the copy. You’ll see the phone. You see the glasses. This is beginning to all work together really well in a powerful way.
I also want to show you the other images that we chose, or that I was exploring.
And for that, I’m going to simply change the image. You’ll see in Carol’s media library, I actually mocked up six or seven of these.
I thought, this might make a great homepage image. This is fun. You know, it looks great on desktop, but not on a mobile phone.
What happened to the image?
We knew that wasn’t going to work.
Another one Carol liked was this one, but it gets busy when you have type over type. You need to carefully choose images.
This one is okay but the type underneath is too strong.
That was a very good second place winner. Even though there is some copy under the headline, it’s not too distracting. This was an image that I actually popped into a tablet in Photoshop to make it look realistic. So it does work here because it’s not fighting with the text underneath.
It also works well on the tablet. It works on the phone view, but you do lose a sense of what it is. So this is why at the end of the day we chose this one, which was really a surprise.
I hope that you found this helpful.
And if you would like help for your website, you can reach out to me by phone or by email [nancy (at) fieldsgraphicdesign (dot) com], and you can also download my free report.
Thank you for stopping by.
Carol’s daughter helped her create her first business website. Carol purchased her domain name from GoDaddy and decided to use GoDaddy’s proprietary drag and drop website builder.
Even though Carol found a pre-built website template she liked, Carol and her daughter struggled to get the look Carol wanted.
Drag and drop website builders are super easy to use for people like me who have designed lots of websites, used hundreds of templates, know what images will work best, at the right size, and can write copy to fit the space provided.
Click here to download the same checklist I use to build business websites.
Instead of spending a few hours building her new website, it took Carol and her daughter many days to complete the home page.
A year passed and Carol needed to make a few text and image changes.
She forgot how to do it. Her daughter forgot too, plus Carol’s daughter was so busy with other things, she no longer had time to work on her mother’s website.
Forgetting how to make text and images changes is very common if you don’t build websites full time. I still remember the day I forgot how to log into my new WordPress website.
Carol wanted to launch her copywriting services using the Product Launch Formula.
Carol’s coach highly recommended creating a landing page with an opt-in form to build her email list. Carol needed a minimum of 300-500 subscribers to justify spending the time and energy on a product launch.
The online world of sales and marketing is always changing. Landing pages with a built in opt-in form are a better way to list build for 3 big reasons:
Carol and her daughter created Carol’s first website using GoDaddy’s website builder. The same one that you see advertised about how easy it is to create a drag and drop website quickly. You choose a prebuilt, template and drag and drop your images and text.
The problem was Carol wants to launch her copywriting services using the product launch formula method and WordPress is a much better platform for launching products and services because Carol can use landing page software to build her list. And before I replaced her GoDaddy website with her new WordPress website, I wanted to show you what Carol was struggling.
It did take Carol and her daughter hours and hours to complete the home page. And she’s happy with the overall look, but she forgot what she had done to add the text and images. And her daughter’s busy doing other things in her life right now, and she can’t help her mother any longer.
The first thing that held Carol back is that she has an opt-in form here. Instead she wants to add a link to an attractive landing page that was created in LeadPages, but she doesn’t know how to make LeadPages work with GoDaddy.
I asked Google if GoDaddy’s website builder works with LeadPages and I couldn’t easily find the answer because GoDaddy kept leading me to their landing software and lead pages kept saying, we can also design your website.
WordPress and LeadPages work so well together that there really isn’t any need to be fighting with a platform that you don’t really want to use.
A problem Carol had wason her about us page. Her text is centered. It is very hard to read centered text. Centered text is great for a formal invitation, but definitely not for a website that you want people to read.
The other thing is her privacy policy. Privacy policies do tend to be long as is hers.
At’s also in a column on the left, which looks a little strange.
In general, Carol found it too difficult to work on her site.
Plus I can teach her how to use your website after it’s built. And I can show her how to add text and images without spending hours and hours going through online training, trying to get the answers that she needs.
Katherine and Jim Ray wanted a WordPress website that they could maintain and control because their website developer was no longer available to make changes to their old, HTML hand coded website.
The following website and design services were provided by Nancy Fields: WordPress theme selection and site build, image selection and optimization, copy editing, SSL Certificate installed, logo recreated in Adobe Illustrator, favicon created from logo, video editing and upload, SEO.
Top realtors in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts refer Laura DuPont because her home staging sells homes faster, and at a price that is often better than expected.
She needed a “Wow” website to reflect her unique skill.
Within one year of her site rebuild by Nancy Fields, another home stager bought her home staging business because of her website!
Read more about Elsie Kerns new brand identity, new business name and new website.
BEFORE (left) AFTER (center & right)
Julia Donnelly PMP purchased a website coaching package from another company that offered a done-for-you website (pictured LEFT). She found it difficult to make changes and schedule her client calls. Her website package also included items she never used, plus the monthly maintenance fees were high.
Julia missed the ease of WordPress, and asked me to design a new website for her coaching business and Passion Test facilitation. I also chose an easy to use scheduler that Julia can add to any page on her website.
Sally Fallon Morell and Kaayla T. Daniel PhD are both best selling authors whose graphic design tastes could not be more different. Sally’s compass leans traditional where as Kaayla embraces modern and sassy.
Nourishing Broth is the title of their best selling book. As such, my design began with their beautifully designed book cover which influenced the color pallet and the site’s visual hierarchy.
By putting the focus on the book, all other design elements could say clean and uncluttered — the perfect solution for my classic and contemporary clients.
Nancy understood what we needed for a successful site, and not just a good looking site. And trust me, that’s a distinction a whole lot of graphic designers just don’t seem to grasp. — Dr. Kaayla T. Daniel
http://www.travisandassociates.com/
Victoria L. Travis is a veterinarian recruiter. She wanted to attract more perfect customers and grow her online presence, but her old website lacked personality. We chose a theme that highlighted her mission and her professional qualifications. Now visitors to her website quickly understand what makes her unique among veterinary recruiters.
“Nancy, someone just phoned to say he found me on line, and he that liked my website!” — Victoria L. Travis
Renee Fink, President and CEO, recently acquired ClearPath Workforce Management and wanted a website her staff could update and maintain. In addition, Renee wanted a site with a fresh, dynamic homepage that had a video and lead magnet ‘above the fold.’ The site also needed to:
ClearPath Workforce Management’s lead magnet designed by Nancy Fields as a downloadable PDF.
Our internal staff gave rave reviews about the website. I can tell there was a renewed sense of pride about our company. We’ve moved into the 21st century.
Thank you for all your great work on this. — Renee Fink, President and CEO
Sally Fallon Morell is a busy lady! She’s a best selling author and publisher who has been online since the early days of HTML.
Sally wanted a site where people could purchase her books, and those she publishes.
Followers can also hear her latest podcast interview, and read her blog post, too.
http://newtrendspublishing.com/
Sally also requested a promotional post card of her latest best seller, Nourishing Fats: Why We Need Animal Fats for Health and Happiness. Design, 3-D rendering, and copywriting by Nancy Fields.
What a pleasure it is to work with Nancy Fields! When you tell her your vision for your website, she gets it immediately, and then puts together something that surpasses your expectations. She’s a real professional—easy to work with, punctual and very good value! — Sally Fallon Morell, author
Nourishing Traditions, Nourishing Broth, Nourishing Fats
I love what I do because I get to work with friends who become clients, and clients who become friends.
Cynthia started her blog website six years ago and grew her list of followers to over 65,000! It was time to update her website because her old site was not mobile responsive, which was hurting her search rankings. Cynthia was also ready for a more modern look, which she thought would help promote her first book which is soon to be published.
Because we had worked together in the past, I was able to choose a theme I knew she would like, plus a theme that would fit her content, and all the beautiful photos she wanted to add— which I also used on her new business cards.
I’m very excited about the new look for Say Hello Spot. For over a year, I have wanted to upgrade the look of my blog. Nancy is someone I have worked with professionally since 1998 and she helped me setup up my website when I founded Bright Spot Therapy Dogs in 2004. We work well together. She “gets” what I’m striving to convey to my readers in visual form and she’s got great advice to share, as well.
The creating of the new look for Say Hello Spot didn’t happen overnight. Selecting great photos for my homepage slider, selecting the right font for the header and the perfect WordPress theme, took hours of time.
It was all worth it. I am thrilled with the outcome. For me, a website needs to draw the viewer in by being visually attractive and easy to navigate. I feel the New Say Hello Spot does just that. — Cynthia Hinckley
http://practicetobusiness.com/
Business coach, Steve Hendon, specializes in helping small and medium size practices spend less time managing their business and more time doing what they love do — and were trained to do.
When Steve asked me to look at his old website, my first reaction was:
Together we worked on
Your energy level and excitement about building my website was infectious.
I also recognize your persistence as you kept me informed of the progress and pursued completion of the project in a timely manner.
I have peace of mind knowing that 24/7 my site is working for me and providing a vehicle for people to know me better and get in touch with me. I also appreciate having an expert to answer my questions and keep me up to date with the best information available. — Steve Hendon
Like many of my clients, Lori’s daughter created her first WordPress website, and updated her website, too. A year later, Lori’s daughter went off to college, and didn’t have time to update her mother’s site.
Lori didn’t enjoy the tech side of maintaining a website. The problem was, being a realtor Lori’s site needed frequent updates. When Lori phoned me she said, “People think I’m no longer in business.”
Lori also needed to update her site because her old WordPress site was not mobile responsive. She also wanted a more modern looking site.
Properties in the Reno area can move fast. Some weeks I sell a house as soon as it’s listed! What I like most about Nancy is she’s so responsive. — Lori Doyle, Realtor
Non-profit Two Centre Street Restoration Project wanted to keep donors updated on their progress. One of the Board members heard that a WordPress site would allow them to easily update their own site. I created a custom header for them using their own photos, and taught their administrator how to use WordPress. Over the next 10 years they’ll be adding text and photos to keep people interested in their project so they can continue to raise more money while this historic landmark gets a facelift.
Nancy taught me step by step how to run and manage the website and showed me how easy it is to take command of your own site—very empowering. I couldn’t have done any of this without her design and expertise. — Jane Karakula
Janet R. Bowen, RN, FNP, AHN-BC has a busy practice in rural Wisconsin. A family member setup her WordPress website but no longer had the time to continue working on Natural Hormone Balancing. Janet asked me to pickup where her nephew left off, design a custom web header, her free offer and add them to her website.
Nancy, you have been so helpful to me and I am so grateful for the beautiful work you have done. I will continue to utilize your services as I continue to develop my site further…Thank you for the amazing work you do! — Janet Bowen RN, FNP, AHN-BC
