New website for author and journalist James MacManus

James MacManus is an author and newspaper executive who has also scripted a film. His books tell two stories of young men thrust by chance into great adventures which take their lives to the limit – and beyond.

1. Keep your content updated

It is essential that you keep your content up to date. As an author, the primary purpose of your website is likely to be to promote your writing so you need to make sure the latest information is available to your visitors to help keep them interested. For agents and publishers, promoting your clients and their books has become increasingly important due to the phenomenon surrounding ebooks. Competition is fierce these days so your website can help keep your head above the water.

If you have a blog or news section on your website – which is recommended these days, it is vital you keep these regularly updated. This will provide a massive bonus with search engine rankings and make sure your visitors are aware of latest releases and information.

We have redesigned the website for Greene & Heaton Literary Agency

Greene & Heaton is a literary agency founded in 1963 by the late Elaine Greene. They have a diverse range of clients that include novelists, travel writers, scientists, biographers, historians and children's writers/illustrators.  Clients they represent include Helen Craig, Michael Frayn and William Shawcross.

Google Analytics is essential for any website. When we develop websites for our clients, we always integrate a Google Analytics account so we can help clients monitor the success of their website and understand how visitors are using their website. It provides a whole range of useful information including how people are reaching your site, how long they spend on your website, which keywords were used to reach you and plenty more statistics to help you stay ahead of the game. It is a great service from Google and it is completely free!

We understand that it can be difficult to understand all the information available and the terminolgoy used, so we have put together this article that explains how best to spot trends in your data and a brief explanation of some of the terms you will come across with Google Analytics.

Click here to download the PDF document 'Your Guide to Google Analytics'.

Andrew Williams online with his new website

Author Andrew Williams' website is now live and we have designed a fresh and clean website to promote his work.

There is lots of interesting information that can be found on the website including media clips from when Andrew worked with the BBC

We have integrated a WordPress blog into Alain de Botton’s website. A blog provides a range of advantages to a website. For example, search engines such as Google are always on the lookout for updated content and now their search results are also based on time-line searches, new content is all the more important.

An e-book is an electronic book that can be read through a computer, electronic reading device and in some cases through mobile technology. As technology moves forward and electronic book readers and mobile technology develop, e-books have become a popular way of publishing books and in this article we discuss 10 advantages of e-books.

1. Instant Access

Once the e-book has been purchased it is accessible straight away. There is no need to wait for stock or delivery dates and there is no extra postage and packaging fee. This is likely to entice people to purchase books in this format as it eliminates a lot of the fuss involved with online purchasing or having to physically go to a bookshop.

Literary Agency Jonathan Pegg online with new website

Jonathan Pegg is a literary agent based in West London representing a range of talented writers including Raymond Tallis, Kate Snell and Nick Davies.

We have integrated a JQuery menu on the homepage with sliding tabs to add to the simple design of this website. In May 2010, Google introduced high quality open source web fonts in the Google Font Directory and the Google Font API to make them available to everybody on the web. We used these fonts on the Jonathan Pegg website which are visible to users even if their computer doesn’t have those fonts.

There is also a banner on the right hand side that shows different book covers that lead to more information if you click the book cover. This is a good way of publicising new book releases and drawing attention to them.

Visit www.jonathanpegg.com to take a look at the new website.

When you hire an agency or designer to design your website, it is important to remember to give them some direction in order to fulfil your needs. We have put together a few suggestions on what you should consider when making decisions about website design.

What is your website for?
The first part of your plan should be to identify what you want from your website. For instance, for agents or publishers the purpose of your site may be to publicise your clients and books where as for authors your site would be dedicated to promoting yourself and connecting with your readers. It is essential to create a direct message to those you would like to engage.