About Colin Campbell

Colin Campbell is a local author who is starting to break into the American market for mystery and crime novels. He has been a long-time client of Centurius and had previously had a HTML site, which he had been very happy with.

Project Detail

Centurius felt that it would be more beneficial for Colin to move on to a WordPress site, making it easier for him to edit and update his own site.
For the main part, the exercise of moving Campbellfiction.com to wordpress was a design exercise. The content that had been on the original site did not need changing and Centurius felt that the most important thing was to create a site that was easily navigated and eye-catching.

Centurius chose a template that included a simple horizontal navigation bar and one that allowed images to control the feel of the site. The simple navigation is aided by the fact that most images on the site cross link and allow the reader a more interesting journey through the different pages.

Centurius chose a striking colour scheme of Yellow/Gold against a deep blue background. This creates not only an eye catching colour palette but also helps to maintain mysterious undertones.
It was important for an up-and-coming author like Colin, to help the reader navigate throughout the site with ease, so that the audience could learn more about Colin and see his entire portfolio. The Nivo Slider that dominates the top of the homepage, along with the smaller slider that displays all his novels at the bottom of the screen, give this functionality.

Much of Colin’s appeal will initially be through his human side, showing that he is a fan as well as an author. It was important that Centurius show this in a way that the reader can see without having to crawl through the site first. Because of this, Centurius included ‘Latest News images’ and Colin’s latest Tweets on the homepage. This helps to catch the readers attention and move them through the site with ease.

An author portfolio page was added to introduce the reader to Colin’s full listings of work. Each book image links to an information page where the reader can not only see a basic synopsis of the work, but also leave comments and ask questions. The most important features however, is the link through to a chapter of some of the books. This introduces Colin’s work and is important for gaining a return-audience. Each book title page also links through to Amazon.co.uk, so the reader can purchase the book there and then.

Testimonial

“Centurius have been doing my website since before they were Centurius. They have always kept the site looking good but have recently upgraded it to allow me more control. A dangerous tool to put in the hands of a computer moron but the team made the transition simple and are only a phone call away if I send up a flare. Their knowledge and creative vision is second to none. I cannot recommend them highly enough.”

Colin Campbell- Author