Visitors had to read before they understood the offer. The homepage opened with four paragraphs and a stock photo.
Website design case study · Author website, USA
We turned a text-heavy WordPress site into a calm, modern home for Stan’s book, A Layman’s Guide to Managing Fear. Every word of his content stayed. The 15 pages and 56 articles now share one design, and the homepage loads 3 style and script files where it used to load 47.
The new bookbystanley.com homepage, launched October 2026.
The client and the challenge
Stan Popovich is a Penn State graduate from Pittsburgh who has lived with anxiety for more than 20 years. His book, A Layman’s Guide to Managing Fear, offers 200+ practical strategies, has 400+ Amazon reviews and has taken him onto 30+ US TV and radio programmes, including ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC stations.
His old site, managingfear.com, held years of good writing. The design did not show it off. We rebuilt it as a calm, modern home for the book, and it is now live at bookbystanley.com.
Visitors had to read before they understood the offer. The homepage opened with four paragraphs and a stock photo.
There was no cover on the homepage, and the order page led with a long headline and an FAQ.
A busy top bar, heavy serif headings and an eight-item menu.
On phones, every section collapsed into one long column.
The homepage loaded 47 separate style and script files.
Our approach
We kept all of Stan’s content and redesigned how it is presented, so a worried visitor feels calmer within seconds and knows where to start.
One soothing blue (#2C5EAD) taken from Stan’s own brand, with white space and pale-blue sections and no competing colours
Poppins headlines with Inter body text, sized for easy reading on any screen
The Managing Fear wave-and-sun logo, used across the header, footer and browser tab
The problem (three short videos), the solution (the book and a free 5-step framework), then proof (Stan, media, reviews)
Photos of Stan at work, the book cover in 3D, and logos of ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, MSN and iHeartRadio
Words that rise into place, steps that light up as you scroll and a photo that wipes from fear to family life, all switched off for visitors who prefer less motion
Two columns wherever content fits, a sticky Get the Book bar, and swipeable video and topic rows
Every article has a quick-answer box, a table of contents that follows you down the page, and related reads
Each of the 69 old page addresses has a permanent (301) redirect to its new page.
Homepage, before and after
The new homepage leads with one promise, the book and two clear buttons. The old one led with a wall of text.
Inside pages, before and after
A clear headline, a visual on the right, and the next step one click away.
Design highlights
Three new sections carry the homepage’s story, from recognising the fear to seeing life beyond it.
Results
All of Stan’s content now sits in one design: 71 pages, with about 13 times less style and script code on the homepage (977 KB down to 77 KB).
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| Pages in the new design | — | 71 (15 pages and all 56 articles) |
| Homepage HTML | 312 KB | 54 KB |
| Homepage style and script files | 47 files, 977 KB | 3 files, 77 KB |
| Reviews shown on the reviews page | 13 | 28, filterable by counselors and readers |
| Media appearances shown | Text lists | 19 TV and 27 radio appearances as cards, plus 64 publications with links |
| Search-ready markup | Homepage basics | Book, FAQ, how-to, author and article data on every page |
Page weights measured in the browser on 24 October 2026, excluding photos and videos on both sites.
Credits
We wrote up the decisions behind this project for anyone planning a similar site: what an author website redesign should change, and what it should keep →
FAQs
We refreshed the visual identity, designed the UX and UI, added the motion design, built the front end, moved all 56 articles into the new design and set up the SEO. The site went live in October 2026 at bookbystanley.com.
No. We kept every word of Stan’s content and changed how it is presented. All 15 site pages and all 56 articles carry the new design, 71 pages in total.
The homepage HTML went from 312 KB to 54 KB, and its style and script files from 47 files and 977 KB to 3 files and 77 KB. Both sites were measured in the browser on 24 October 2026, without photos and videos.
No. The motion is gentle, and all of it switches off for visitors whose device is set to reduce motion.
Yes. Stan Popovich is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and we designed and built his site from India. Websites for US clients start at $1,450, priced in US dollars with no GST.
Sitting on years of good content?
We will tell you what to keep, what to move and what the new design should lead with.
Awarded Digital Marketing Agency
Over 100
reviews
