Web Presence Redesign

Sometimes success is a problem. I should be glad I’ve hit this point. Instead, I’m annoyed at having to take time off from productive work to shuffle web sites. I only want to do this once, so I’m presenting my plan here. My readers are perhaps the most highly qualified people in the world to punch holes it. Also, writing it down will help me figure out the details.

I need to redesign my “web presence.” (Ugh. Hate that term.)

As an author, I present two faces to the world: nonfiction author Michael W Lucas, and fiction author Michael Warren Lucas.

I have two different names because while my readers might not care terribly much about genre, they do care about fiction versus nonfiction. My tech readers don’t want to see my novels (with some exceptions), while the fiction readers find the tech baffling (as they should). Very few people are cross-spectrum Lucas fans.

So, different names and different web sites. I make no pretense that these names are two different people.

I have a generic landing page for people interested in both sides. That URL is short enough to type on a cellphone. The page is kind of clunky, but I’m working on a modern-looking version.

I also have a blog. Which is the site you’re reading now.

My tech author page has most of my information, as that’s where most of my readership has been. The fiction audience is growing, however. I’ve heard from more than one fiction reader that the nonfiction site alienates them. (I understand them perfectly. Computer technology alienates most people.)

So I need to rearrange. And I want to do it in such a way that it reduces information duplication and maintenance of text. Plus, I only want to do it once. So, here’s the plan. Please save me labor and punch holes in it before I do the work.

The blog stays right where it is. Too many incoming links.

Move the following from the nonfiction site to the landing site:

  • all of the autobiography pages
  • about, contact
  • make the FAQ a top-level entity
  • “support an author”, but link to it

Move the following from the fiction site to the landing site:

  • the contact form (integrate with the contact info from nonfiction site)

On the nonfiction site:

  • make the “talks” page a top-level menu item
  • Rebrand the site as “The books of Michael W Lucas” with “About the Author” linking to the generic site

On the fiction site:

  • Rebrand the site as “The books of Michael Warren Lucas” with “About the Author” pointing to the generic site.
  • Link to the “Support an Author”

As far as the new landing site goes: I really must thank Lucy Snyder for letting me stealborrow take inspiration and configurations from her WordPress setup.

So, all my readers who are experts in information management: where did I screw up? What optimization opportunities am I missing here? What am I going to regret months or years from now? Other than being an author, of course.