World, Writing, Wealth discussion
All Things Writing & Publishing
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Whoa! Looks really professional. Well done on the mobile form factor. Not surethat you need a border around the whole page.
Doh! 404 error after hitting Submit, but I did get a confirmation email and clicking confirm did take me to the Success page on your website.
Alex G wrote: "Doh! 404 error after hitting Submit, but I did get a confirmation email and clicking confirm did take me to the Success page on your website."Whoa. Thank you so much for this.
Well done Tara, definitely much better.First, your pop up should NOT show immediately someone lands on your page. You should set it up for exit intention. You don't want to distract the viewer before they have had a chance to interact with your website.
When I had my first website built, I took inspiration from this one http://www.jamesagrymes.com/. I love how he optimised his space. But I totally understand that it can be deficult to achieve same with free themes. I have the same problem with my other website that I built myself.
I hate having to scoll down and your home page makes me do that. You should not have content on your blog on your pages, so it should not be at the bottom of your home page.
Each page should have a purpose and whilst interlinking is good, it should be done with a purpose. So all the distractions on your home page should not be there eg side bars. It's all about psychology. Do you want a new visitor to find out about you and what you do? Potentially buy your books or take your consulting services? Or do you want them to read your blog?
Your twitter share thing still doesn't autopopulate your twitter handle. I use the sumome app and no probs with it (unless the viewer has a blocker of some kind).
This page is blank http://www.tarawoodsturner.com/book/
Beyond good manners page, there's a lot of wasted space. Is your book only available on Amazon and Audible?
Your book pages are not blog posts, so why do you want a viewer to leave a reply? If anything, it should be a review. What digital download plugin do you use? Does it not give the option for reviews from people who buy directly from you?
People read from left to right, so my preference for side bars is on the left
forgive any typos, typed in between hide and seek
Segilola wrote: "Well done Tara, definitely much better.First, your pop up should NOT show immediately someone lands on your page. You should set it up for exit intention. You don't want to distract the viewer be..."
Hide and seek is awesome! I put a recent posts updater on the homepage because some people said they wanted to know upfront that I blog and it would pull them deeper into the site. Even though there's a blog menu tab that line of reasoning did sort of make sense, so...will think about it.
Thank you for the Sumo recommendation. Your wordfence and Yoast plugins were a Godsend. I tried the sidebar on the left but it made me feel...uneven? I know, I'm weird lol.
I'll add a B&N button.
Took care of the empty page.
A lot of the articles I read about pop-ups say it should be at the beginning when people expect it and can commit or decline and then get on with why they came to your site where as exit pop-ups feel pushy. I'll do some more research and see what the majority thought Pool reflects.
I put comment capability on the book pages so parents could discuss them but I think you have a point. The discussions should be routed to relevant blog posts.
Tara wrote: "Segilola wrote: "Well done Tara, definitely much better.First, your pop up should NOT show immediately someone lands on your page. You should set it up for exit intention. You don't want to distr..."
At this point, my amateur feedback would do more to confuse than elucidate. Therefore, I refer you to the books that a UX designer at the company I work at recommended and that I own:
100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People
Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
and one that I found and bought, which is more generally applicable (for example, to blogging and writing nonfiction):
Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom
btw, Friedman's book, Publishing 101 gets surprisingly technical a few aspects on website design and, of course, I have to recommend Michael Hyatt's Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, which is particularly relevant to nonfiction authors.
Hey Tara!I think it's vastly improved over the first iteration, and already a lot better than the a lot of author websites I've seen. And I think you dealt with or have answered above all the criticisms I gave in your previous thread. I really was a little worried I came off a bit harsh last time round, so I'm glad you took it all in the spirit intended.
I don't have much time today so I'll keep this brief, but the front page is so good now. I like the rotating images at the top with the kids, and the new tagline, it really gives an immediate sense of who you are and what you're about, and the book info is right up front and really clear.
I think there's still some tweaks you could make, mostly because there are always tweaks you can make on a website, but overall, I have so much more sense of you than before, and I like it a lot.
Well done!
Hi Tara,Definitely looks much better!
A few things that immediately stuck out at me:
1. Half the page is taken up by two elements that have the exact same information. I don't see a valid reason for having "Tara Woods Turner - Official Site" and a banner with "Tara Woods Turner" right next to each other.
I'd be inclined to use the first one. Then make a version of your logo that is dark grey/blue with a transparent background and put it at the top left. You could also change the green colour to the colour of your logo. Your menu would then sit directly below the header either on a dark background or dark text on a white background.
2. Your page title should use "|" instead of "-". You have "Best-selling Author, Etiquette Consultant - Tara Woods Turner - Official Site". Switch the - with | and it will be better for SEO.
3. I still think you should have a higher-quality photo. And it can probably be removed from the home page and put on the bio page.
4. I think your social media/goodreads contact info should be present on every page, both in the header and footer.
Otherwise, you're definitely almost there. Just small details left!
Kent wrote: "Hi Tara,Definitely looks much better!
A few things that immediately stuck out at me:
1. Half the page is taken up by two elements that have the exact same information. I don't see a valid reaso..."
Short on time so can't waste time gushing, but thank you SO much!
Krazykiwi wrote: "Hey Tara!I think it's vastly improved over the first iteration, and already a lot better than the a lot of author websites I've seen. And I think you dealt with or have answered above all the cri..."
You have my sincere gratitude...:)
Alex G wrote: "Tara wrote: "Segilola wrote: "Well done Tara, definitely much better.First, your pop up should NOT show immediately someone lands on your page. You should set it up for exit intention. You don't ..."
Even I have heard of two of these books before ! Applying psychology to web design just makes sense so I will have to do a Google search that epitomizes the content of the suggested titles. Alex, you're awesome, as always.
I agree with almost everyhing Kent said, especially with regards to your photo belonging more in the About Me section. I'd personally keep the large blue banner though (with the T design having a blue background so that it could fade into the background instead of how it is now.) And I'd also make it possible to click on the blue banner to go back to the homepage.But ultimately it's up to you of course.
Alexis wrote: "I agree with almost everyhing Kent said, especially with regards to your photo belonging more in the About Me section. I'd personally keep the large blue banner though (with the T design having a b..."Hubby is fixing the T logo today. I like your ideas - thank you :)
where's my thank you Tara? :(( :p#itsgreattobeadramaqueensometimes :p
Segilola wrote: "where's my thank you Tara? :(( :p#itsgreattobeadramaqueensometimes :p"
Drama or not you're always a queen! I can't believe I didn't say thank you - I owe you a lot more than thanks, my friend. Apologies and hugs. And cake.
awwww shucks I'm blushing :) cake is a nice thank you :Dforgive me for highjacking your thread for a sec but lil human is 2 in a just under 3 weeks and I'm planning on making a pinata cake. I just need to figure out how to make molten chocolate. Then mine would be a very unique cake ehehehehheheh
as you were folks :D
Segilola wrote: "awwww shucks I'm blushing :) cake is a nice thank you :Dforgive me for highjacking your thread for a sec but lil human is 2 in a just under 3 weeks and I'm planning on making a pinata cake. I jus..."
Pinata cake? You're going to hit a cake with a syptick? Molten cake is dine but is always made in individual ramekins or custard cups. Yummm!
ahahahhaha nooooooooa pinata cake is one where when you cut out the first slice of cake you get sweeties fall out like a typical pinata. however, instead of sweeties, I want molten chocolate to drip out. I was considering using cream too . . . I just need to make sure that whatever I do, the cake doesn't become soggy . . .
Segilola wrote: "ahahahhaha nooooooooa pinata cake is one where when you cut out the first slice of cake you get sweeties fall out like a typical pinata. however, instead of sweeties, I want molten chocolate to d..."
Ha ha I see...still yummy.
Hi Tara, just went to your website for the first time ( a little preoccupied with hubby's 80 th birthday ) but love it a lot. It is very clean with lots of white space -- all good things!!! I would like to see a nice photo of you on your About page. I only say this because when I launched my website earlier this year, I kept getting critiques of the photo I had chosen, so haha you shouldn't escape this.
Finally my answer was, you're not going to see a good photo of me because hey this is as good as it gets, I am not photoshopping myself haha!
But you've done a magnificent job. What did you decide about blogging? Regular? Sporadic? I have worked my way through blogging advice to figure out you need to be semi-regular but I have always been against just posting for postings sake.
Joanna wrote: "Hi Tara, just went to your website for the first time ( a little preoccupied with hubby's 80 th birthday ) but love it a lot. It is very clean with lots of white space -- all good things!!! I woul..."
What a great comment :-)
Once everything is in place I will be posting once maybe twice a week depending on my schedule. I really enjoy posting although I have to teach myself not to be so wordy. I'm a big talker ha ha. But there are so many things in my field to blog about you know? But I do have two books to put out, a huge stack of guest articles to finish, massive pre-launch activities, continued promo for the current book, a writing contest to help judge, reviews to complete and anything else I've forgotten. Oh boy lol. Congrats on your hubby's bday!! Are you making a cake?
Nik wrote: "-:)"Back at ya, boss :-)
Marie wrote: "Here you go, Tara :)"
Ooh, good stuff. I will be working on new photos when I return from the Caribbean midmonth. Your photos look really good so OK, I trust you LOL. By the way, I love the header for your site. The hand written Branding is so chic yet inviting. What font is that? May I steal it?
I've been thinking of getting a professional photo since my goodreads pic is just me sitting in my front yard :). I haven't put my photo on Amazon or my website yet, so that's just a license free stock image. Maybe someday when I get pro photos taken and tell my friends and family about my double life :D. The font name on the heading is Sacramento. It's so pretty! I'm glad you like it!!
Marie wrote: "I've been thinking of getting a professional photo since my goodreads pic is just me sitting in my front yard :). I haven't put my photo on Amazon or my website yet, so that's just a license free s..."Your fb pics are good. Sacramento - I love it :)
Good luck, Tara, it's much improved. It's really double duty for nonfiction which I hadn't thought of: show both expertise of subject and authorship!
Slightly off topic - am I the only one who hates the new Goodreads home page?
M.L. Roberts wrote: "Good luck, Tara, it's much improved. It's really double duty for nonfiction which I hadn't thought of: show both expertise of subject and authorship!"It really is and I also have to be mindful not to incorporate my consultancy into the mixture, or at least not to a distracting extent. My website for that will be much more straightforward.
Your page looks amazing now, Tara! Just letting you know that I am also getting an "error 404 page not found" when I try to subscribe to your newsletter.
Marie wrote: "Your page looks amazing now, Tara! Just letting you know that I am also getting an "error 404 page not found" when I try to subscribe to your newsletter."*rolls up sleeves*
Was this from the sidebar widget or a 'sign up here' link? ty
On the right side of your home page where it says sign up for the newsletter.
Tara wrote: "Ooh, good stuff. I will be working on new photos when I return from the Caribbean midmonth. Your photos look really good so OK, I trust you LOL. By the way, I love the header for your site. The hand written Branding is so chic yet inviting. What font is that? May I steal it?."talking about stealing... those are pretty hi-res and diverse pics in the slideshow. are they creative commons? where did you get them from? i'm thinking of taking some kid pictures and modify them to turn into zombies or otherwise horrify them to supplement my horror/supernatural WIP stories.
Alex G wrote: "Tara wrote: "Ooh, good stuff. I will be working on new photos when I return from the Caribbean midmonth. Your photos look really good so OK, I trust you LOL. By the way, I love the header for your ..."http://www.pixabay.com :)
Tara wrote: "Alex G wrote: "Tara wrote: "Ooh, good stuff. I will be working on new photos when I return from the Caribbean midmonth. Your photos look really good so OK, I trust you LOL. By the way, I love the h..."thx! i added pixabay.com to our Comprehensive Author Resources Spreadsheet.
Alex G wrote: "Tara wrote: "Ooh, good stuff. I will be working on new photos when I return from the Caribbean midmonth. Your photos look really good so OK, I trust you LOL. By the way, I love the header for your ..."how do you horrify your pics?
Much much better than the first one you showed me. My only suggestion is about the header... now its a bit to wide. You can remove some of the blue above your name and below the wreath and it will make your name standout a bit more. I really love your covers and how they all come together and have a central theme - well done indeed!
Michael wrote: "Much much better than the first one you showed me. My only suggestion is about the header... now its a bit to wide. You can remove some of the blue above your name and below the wreath and it will ..."Thank you, Michael, you've always had a great artistic eye. I'll adjust the balance tomorrow.
Nik wrote: "To me it looks cool, solid."((Hugs))
Segilola wrote: "Alex G wrote: "Tara wrote: "Ooh, good stuff. I will be working on new photos when I return from the Caribbean midmonth. Your photos look really good so OK, I trust you LOL. By the way, I love the h..."i'm just starting out w/gimp, so i'm quite amateurish. i added some background blood to one of my profile pic, but i'm going to start experimenting w/adding some putrefied flesh to the face.
Friedman gets technical with newsletter subscription pop-ups (she uses mailmunch):https://janefriedman.com/why-i-starte...
and what should you do after they sign up? they should get an automatic response thanking them and explaining some nice things about what they just signed up for:
https://janefriedman.com/pop-strategy...
my preference is the mailchimp for wp plugin. no need to sign up for another account.thanks for the reminder Alex, it's been on the back of my mind to set up an automessage for my subscribers but I keep forgetting
World, Writing, Wealth
Books mentioned in this topic
100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People (other topics)Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (other topics)
Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom (other topics)
Publishing 101 (other topics)
Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World (other topics)
Here it is (view spoiler)[http://www.tarawoodsturner.com (hide spoiler)]