Mary Adkins is a 4x published author and book writing coach who supports aspiring writers to finally get their books done in her high-touch coaching program, The Book Incubator™️.
Since working together, Mary doubled enrollment and revenue in The Book Incubator™, and expanded her team to include other best-selling authors (one whose latest book is being turned into an Apple TV series starring Elle Fanning, Nicole Kidman, and Nick Offerman!)
This project was completed in 2022.
Project details:
Project scope = Visual branding, custom 7-page author website for Mary, custom 7-page website for The Book Incubator™️ program with pages for every step of an evergreen sales funnel (including an opt-in landing page, webinar replay page and sales page with countdown timers, along with ‘You missed it’ expiry pages)
Timeline = 10 weeks
Website platform = Squarespace
Lines of code = 10,000+
Mary came to me with an existing website that was vibrant and full of bold, neon colours ... which she didn’t hate. However, for her new direction and high-end offerings, she wanted it to feel calmer and to build trust faster for an ideal client with more life experience than the average beginner author.
I asked Mary to create a Pinterest board with images that she loved and felt represented her new direction.
Whenever I work with clients on visual branding, I want to get their perspective for where they want their branding to go, as they’ll naturally filter their preferences through their own experiences and expertise.
After I received Mary’s inspiration, I add in the brand strategy and my own expert recommendations to their mood board.
Next I moved onto the colour palette where I included a mature, grounded, trustworthy colour like navy, but added in unexpected, fun pops of mustard and bright poppy red.
I always test that the colour palette has fully accessible colour combinations with sufficient contrast that they will be easily legible on the website and other digital assets such as marketing images that her team would create in the future.
Website design & development:
When Mary came to me, she already had an existing website that was OK, but she had very specific goals when it came to her new one:
Goal #1: Reduce the attention on herself (while still proving she’s an expert with her own published books), and grow confidence from the start in her team members.
To edify Mary’s amazing team members and mentors in The Book Incubator™️, and not place so much focus on Mary herself, an auto-rotating carousel was custom coded on her home page to show the most recognizable book covers her team has edited.
Goal #2: Increase the calls-to-action to apply to her online group coaching program.
Clearly the overarching goal was to drive enrollments in The Book Incubator™️, so all roads on Mary’s new website lead to her group program in one way or another. Whether it’s her automated webinar funnel, the program application page, or a 1-1 call with her team, she’s got a call-to-action for every type of person.
Goal #3: Showcase the testimonials for her program in a bigger way to create trust faster and drive applications.
Mary’s testimonials are fairly long, so I custom coded entire sections with a bright pink background to showcase them. Images were changed to black and white to not draw too much attention from the amazing feedback from current and past program members!
Even with these 3 major goals, we didn’t forget that this is Mary’s personal brand website and she’s a published author in her own right. Instead of the typical design of alternating images and text on the left and right side (which is super common in Squarespace - and can make pages feel very long to read), Mary’s books are shown in a custom coded section which reveals the cover image, buy now button, and praise for each book when the title is clicked on.
Some other features include handwritten touches that were added with custom code. This reminds website visitors of marking up and editing a book manuscript, which adds to the overall bespoke feeling and personalized feedback they’ll receive in The Book Incubator program™.
Moving animations were added in the form of custom marquees. This also signals to website visitors that Mary’s teaching style isn’t the same as a formal, stuffy MFA program, which a good proportion of her current program members have invested in.
Now let’s move onto The Book Incubator™️ program website. Her previous website pages leading people to her new offerings were totally DIY in LeadPages. While those pages were fine, there was lots of room for improvement in terms of ease of reading — especially the long form sales page for her program — and higher-end design and branding.
I have experience with the specific funnel type Mary was using to drive people to her hybrid coaching program, which requires the following website pages:
webinar opt-in landing page
webinar replay page with countdown timer & full application page
program application page
program sales page
an ‘Oops, you missed it!’ page for both the webinar replay and the program sales page
separate opt-in thank you page for her lead magnets on her main website with full application page at the bottom
The sales page alone was 32 sections long, requiring the use of many different design features and custom coding to make it seem like it wasn’t so long.
Client feedback
What Mary had to say after working together:
“
Hiring Ashley for a rebrand and site build in 2022 was in the top five decisions I've ever made in my business.
“Her taste, her skill, her eye for detail and visual design—she's one-of-a-kind, not to mention, a fun, organized, and inspiring person to work with. Thanks in no small part to her, my business revenue has increased 10X in the last three years, as we've moved from a six-figure company to a seven-figure company...and continue to grow!”
— Mary Adkins, Author and Writing Coach
Let’s make it official
Like this project?
While I can’t promise the same results as the client above (uh, that would be unethical!), I won’t stop until I create a brand and website for you that’s capable of the same thing.
I partner with good people doing good work who a strong vision for their business — they just need a little help to make it happen digitally.
Take a gander at my services and download my pricing guide to get a sense of exactly how I can help you and how much it’s going to cost.