Have you ever felt embarrassed to share your own website? That’s exactly where romance author Jamie P. Bradley was before we completely transformed her online presence. Today, I’m taking you behind the scenes of her incredible website transformation to show you the specific strategies that will work for any small business.
The Problem: A Website That Wasn’t Working
When Jamie came to me, she described her biggest frustration perfectly: her website didn’t reflect who she was. It was essentially just a place where she had grabbed a URL online and put up some basic information so people could learn about her and her books when they landed there.
But here’s the thing. There was no strategy behind the design, no user experience or customer journey in mind. It was basically just a placeholder where she had put some information about her books, added a photo of herself, and included a newsletter signup.
Now, I want to give Jamie credit here because building a website yourself is hard work. When you don’t know what needs to go where but you want to have information available for people, you do your best to create something. The problem was that her website was just sitting there, not actively working for her business.
What Was Missing From Jamie’s Original Website
Looking at Jamie’s old website, several important issues jumped out immediately:
No Brand Personality
Her logo was buried in the footer instead of prominently displayed at the top. The hero section (one of the most important parts of any website) showed two pictures of her books with some reviews next to them. That was it. No button to buy the books, no call to action to guide people to the next step.
Jamie describes herself and her writing as “hot, heartwarming, and kind of awkward” (which sounds like exactly the kind of book I love reading!), but that personality wasn’t coming through at all on her website. She was missing the visual branding elements that tied to her books. The green color from her palette and the fonts she used on her book covers were nowhere to be found.
No Customer Journey
This was a big one. When someone landed on Jamie’s website, there was nothing guiding them to take the next step. For an author, there are typically two ideal actions you want visitors to take:
- Buy your books (whether you sell them directly or send people to a third party retailer)
- Sign up for your newsletter so you can stay in touch and let them know about new releases and events
Jamie’s old website had a newsletter signup, but it was buried at the bottom of the page. There were no links guiding people to purchase her books, and the whole experience felt like a dead end.
Poor Site Structure
Her navigation included Home, About, Projects, and Contact. While the About page is definitely important, “Projects” didn’t clearly communicate that these were her books. For an author who’s building her library and planning to add more books over time, having a dedicated “Books” page where she can showcase her growing collection makes much more sense.
The Strategy Behind Jamie’s Website Transformation
Before we started designing, we needed to get clear on the strategy. This is the foundation that makes everything else work.
Understanding Her Ideal Reader
Jamie’s ideal reader is someone who loves contemporary romance that’s fun, witty, and enjoyable. Think light and airy stories that make you feel good. Her website needed to reflect that same energy: fun personality, easygoing user experience, and a simple journey that doesn’t make people think too hard about what to do next.
Clarifying Her Business Goals
We identified two primary goals:
- Get people to buy her books
- Get people to sign up for her newsletter (specifically for her bonus content offer)
Visual Direction
We pulled inspiration directly from Jamie’s existing brand elements that were already working well in other areas of her business. This included her beautiful logo, her signature pink and army green color palette, and the script fonts she uses on her book covers. The key was bringing all of these elements onto her website in a cohesive, strategic way.
The Transformation: What We Changed
Let me walk you through the specific changes we made to create Jamie’s new website experience.
Hero Section Redesign
Before: Just said “Real Romance” with a couple book cover images
After: A fantastic photo of Jamie looking confident, paired with compelling copy that immediately tells visitors what they’ll get from her books:
“Heartwarming, hot, kind of awkward. I write real life characters with grit, attitude and broken pasts so I can give them the extraordinary happily ever after love they deserve. Outstanding sex along the way.”
Plus a clear call to action button: “Check out my new releases.”
I also added a touch of social proof right in the hero section with a quote from Jen Prokop, Fated Mates podcast co-host: “It’s just a great contemporary romance.” When someone lands on your website, that hero section is so important, and having social proof front and center gives visitors an extra boost of confidence.
Color and Typography Strategy
We used Jamie’s signature pale pink for backgrounds, hot pink for headlines, and her army green for buttons (with a gradient effect that blends to black to make them really pop). When you hover over the buttons, they have a subtle animation effect.
The script font from her book covers now appears strategically throughout the site as accent headers, creating that cohesive brand experience between her books and her website.
Simplified Navigation
Jamie’s new navigation includes just four elements, and one of them is a button:
- Books
- Bonus Content
- About
- Get My Newsletter (button)
This directly supports her two main goals: getting people to her books and getting them to sign up for her newsletter. When you’re designing your navigation, aim for five items or less. People don’t need to be overwhelmed with choices.
Strategic Content Sections
New Releases Section: Features her three current books with “Learn More” buttons under each cover that take people directly to purchase pages.
Meet Jamie Section: A personal introduction with her fun headline “Romance author, former farm kid, and happily ever after enthusiast” plus a “Find out more about Jamie” button. People want to know who’s behind the brand, so this personal connection is important.
Social Proof: Reader reviews displayed in animated boxes that slide in from different directions, followed immediately by a “Shop the Books” call to action. This is strategic placement because when people are reading positive reviews, that’s the perfect time to invite them to take action.
Bonus Content Offer: Jamie has this brilliant strategy where she offers additional content (like bonus chapters or alternate endings) that readers can only get by signing up for her newsletter. This creates an irresistible opt-in that romance readers absolutely love.
Footer Strategy
I moved some elements to the footer that are important but not primary actions. For example, “Speaking and Appearances” is important to Jamie’s business, but it’s not what we want most website visitors to focus on. The footer also includes a brief description of what Jamie does on every page: “Romance author JP Bradley crafts heartwarming, steamy stories about imperfect people finding extraordinary love and always delivers a happily ever after.”
Call to Actions on Every Page
This is important: every single page on Jamie’s website now ends with a clear call to action. Visitors are never left at a dead end wondering what to do next. They’re always guided toward either buying her books or signing up for bonus content.
What You Can Apply to Your Own Website
Whether you’re an author, coach, consultant, or any other type of service provider, here are the key takeaways from Jamie’s transformation that you can implement right away:
1. Perfect Your Hero Section
Your homepage hero needs to immediately tell visitors what you do and who it’s for. Jamie’s old site just said “Real Romance” with some book covers. Her new site explains exactly what kind of romance she writes and who her characters are.
Your hero section should pass the three second test: can someone land there and immediately understand what you offer and whether it’s for them?
2. Create a Clear Customer Journey
Jamie’s old site had no buttons guiding people anywhere. Now every section leads visitors toward buying her books or joining her newsletter.
What are the one or two main actions you want visitors to take on your website? Make those paths clear and easy to follow throughout your entire site.
3. Let Your Personality Shine Through
We pulled Jamie’s brand colors, fonts from her book covers, and her fun voice into every part of her website. Your website needs to feel like you. If someone meets you in person and then visits your website, there shouldn’t be a disconnect.
This personality factor is what makes visitors think “this person totally gets me” instead of feeling like they’re on a generic, corporate website.
4. End Every Page with Purpose
Never leave your visitors at a dead end. Jamie’s old site just stopped, but her new site guides people to either shop her books or get bonus content on every single page.
Look at your own website: does every page have a clear next step for visitors to take?
Start With Your Hero Section
If everything I’ve shared feels overwhelming and you’re wondering what to prioritize first, start with your homepage hero section. This is the most important part of your entire website.
Get that messaging super clear. Make sure visitors know within three seconds what you do, who it’s for, and what they should do next.
If your website is making you feel like Jamie felt (embarrassed to share it, making excuses for it), that’s costing you money and confidence every single day. Your website should be working as hard as you are to attract your ideal clients.
The Results Speak for Themselves
Jamie’s transformation shows what’s possible when you combine strategic thinking with personality-packed design. Her website now works 24/7 to attract her ideal readers, build her email list, and sell her books.
More importantly, she’s excited to share her website now. No more excuses, no more redirecting people to social media instead. She’s proud of her online presence, and that confidence shows up in everything she does.
Want to start improving your own website today? Sign up for my Website Design Made Simple newsletter where I share one actionable tip each week to help you make more money with your website.
Your ideal clients are out there looking for exactly what you offer. Make sure your website is ready to convert them when they find you.
Ready for Your Own Website Transformation?
If Jamie’s story resonates with you and you’re ready to stop making excuses for your website, I’d love to help you create your own transformation. Book a free discovery call and we can chat about your vision and how to bring it to life.
Continue Learning:
- 3 Best Practices for High Converting Website Design Master the fundamentals that made Jamie’s site work
- The 4 Website Personalities — Which one are you? Discover how to bring your unique personality online
- 11 Website Mistakes That Are Hurting Your Small Business Avoid the pitfalls that keep websites from converting
