It’s just another way to help others make their corners of the world a little better through a little better storytelling, right?
I actually started writing yesterday’s blogpost/case study the night before because I anticipated it being pretty long and in-depth. Since then, I have outlined a number of case studies that I want to write. Some of them won’t be written because the related stories have ended and their writers can’t go back and change things, some of them are definitely happening.
Most notably, I’m writing a case study breaking down the site of a fellow writer to help them get their stories in front of the people who need to see them. They did not ask me to do this. I don’t even know how many of my writer-friends consistently read my posts, let alone if they’d even suspect that I have my eye on their site in particular.
But this case study is definitely in the work because a great writer deserves a great website. Consider my site (because I’m full of myself and I can do that):
- because I write books, my homepage immediately brings your attention to my most recently published work’s project page;
- because my site is the hub of my online presence, I focus on having all my social media link to the site itself with no overt links leading away from my site and toward social media, and any links that do lead away open in new tabs/windows to help prolong visits;
- because I don’t want to send people away from my site, everything I write/publish has its own project page here on the site that is linked to first which then links to a new tab/window of wherever the related work can be accessed; and,
- because I want people to return again, I have email capture set up on the front page of my site plus at the top of the sidebar (when there is one) that goes to a MailChimp list I control.
Those are just the basics that will get you to having a good site. The case study I’m working on for my friend (written as a guide referencing things she can easily get done herself though I am happy to help every step of the way) will get her to a great site, and set her apart from her “competition.”
I hope she likes it, I hope even more that she implements it.
Also published on Medium.