Featured Projects
From my work with writers, artists, and others in creative industries.
SCADworks
Designing a content structure for an academic art & design blog to bring in site visitors and build brand authority with a strategy that still works a decade later
BLOG CONTENT STRATEGY
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Overview: The university blog was inactive after a recent rebranding. It held strong feature stories, but there was no clear sense of what this new version of the blog was meant to do. It needed a simple, long-lasting content plan that supported creative storytelling while still serving the university’s broader goals.
Audience: The rebranded blog wanted to target a new audience of current students, prospective students and their families, alumni, and creative industry leaders. Each group had distinct needs, from showcasing student experiences and promoting alumni success to attracting industry recognition and engagement.
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SEO research · content strategy · copywriting
We began by looking at each audience individually and listing the kinds of articles and stories they would be most interested in reading. Every idea went on the board, including topics that would serve the university’s goals.
After eliminating everything that didn’t fit, we looked for overlaps. This process allowed us to create six core categories that would appeal to as many readers across all target audiences as possible, without feeling too broad.
The editorial calendar included a range of content formats, from adapted press releases and interviews to feature stories and industry insights. Together, these pieces formed a system designed to inspire, inform, and highlight the university’s strengths.
Social media posts linking to the blog consistently got more engagement than previous content, showing that readers were noticing and sharing the stories. Within the first year, the new strategy increased the number of published posts by 63% and drove a 10% increase in online traffic.
More than a decade later, the university continues to use this strategy, demonstrating its long-term effectiveness, sustainability, and adaptability.
NVision Projects
Bringing order and purpose to a future website update for an independent filmmaker & videographer and clarifying what’s needed before it’s time to build
WEBSITE CLARITY · MENTORING
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Overview: Alex had an outdated website to hold his filmmaking resume and portfolio, but he knew it could do a better job supporting his career goals. He felt like he had to choose between two identities: the videographer for hire and the creative filmmaker with stories to tell. His website needed to balance the two so he could attract videography clients while leaving room to share his award-winning creative projects.
Audience: The primary audience for Alex’s new website was small to large local businesses and organizations who want to use video storytelling to make deeper connections with their respective audiences. The secondary audience was prospective employers who wanted to hire an in-house videographer with a strong portfolio.
Client Comments: “Amanda’s mentoring helped me collect all the thoughts I had and organize them into an easy-to-follow-rubric. Instead of slapping together a website, I now have a blueprint I can work from that is helping me to create the site I’ve always wanted.”
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Research · content strategy · mentorship
We started by mapping the different stages of Alex’s ideal career path to better understand what his portfolio needed to help him move from his current stage to the next. We also discussed some of the financial goals he wanted his filmmaking to support. This led us to explore restructuring his portfolio website into a hub for creative service offers that could allow him to:
grow his portfolio
generate income
develop the skills prospective employers want
have a self-determined flexible schedule
After that, we took a collaborative approach to researching and defining his target audience of local prospective clients. Part of that research included looking into comparable videographers in Alex’s area. Reviewing their websites helped Alex understand what his new site would need to communicate, as well as how to make his offers stand out.
As we mapped out a new sitemap with suggested page wireframes and content structures, Alex started a free trial with the website builder he was considering using. He followed the process outline we created at the beginning of our mentorship.
During this process, Alex ultimately decided to postpone building and launching his new website until he could develop some additional collaterals for it.
CheasArt
Planning a new website from scratch for an expressive artist ready to share her paintings and drawings with a larger audience
WEBSITE PLANNING · MENTORING
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Overview: Chea wanted to start exhibiting and marketing her artwork online. Her website needed to provide a strong foundation for her new business venture that would support her long-term growth.
Audience: Branching out from friends and family, Chea wanted her website to help connect her with art collectors and galleries.
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Research · brand identity · site mapping · copywriting · website building · mentorship
We started with using Chea’s strong artistic voice to define the basic structure of her new online brand identity. We clarified the themes and influences behind her artistic journey, defined the audience she wanted to reach, and combined them into a structure to ensure her presence was consistent across every page.
The sitemap we developed prioritized showcasing distinct bodies of work and creating natural pathways for visitors to engage with her work. This also ensured that later design choices would support Chea’s objectives without distraction.
This project included several additional services, including:
assisting with website builder/CMS platform research and comparison
logo and additional touchpoint design
supporting informational documents on website marketing
full starter website building
Switzy Thoughts
A living testing ground for a creative writer & aspiring author building an audience of future readers
WEBSITE PLANNING · BLOG STRATEGY
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Overview: My first website and the home of my creative writing. At the heart of it is Switzy Thoughts, the blog I created to chronicle my creative journey and build my author platform ahead of my debut novel. It’s been around a long time and tried on several different purposes, which ended up leaving my creative work in the shadows while I built my professional brand. The whole site needed to be realigned with my creative identity, and the blog needed a fresh strategy to bring in the right people.
Audience: The site already brought in a good amount of organic traffic thanks to many informative search-optimized articles, but it needed to encourage certain visitors to stick around: fellow creatives and future fiction readers.
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Research · brand identity · site mapping · copywriting · blog straategy
We started with analyzing the existing brand audience established between the blog and social media platforms. While we found the two audience types we expected and wanted—other creatives and readers—social media revealed a third type of audience member we weren’t aware of. While these people appeared as “just here for the vibes,” they represented a crucial human element that became the backbone of the website’s strategy.
With four new target audience archetypes defined, we then audited over 200 blog posts. Because the site had been around for so long, the categories and tags were bloated with so many terms that navigation was confusing. To fix this and encourage site visitors to explore deeper on related topics, we consolidated and renamed all the organizational taxonomy.
With these structural problems fixed, the new blog content strategy came together almost intuitively. It put more emphasis on creative writing, process, and personality while still incorporating SEO strategy. We updated the structure of the home page to reflect this, highlighting key blog posts to reinforce both industry authority and a creative identity.
Results:
After publishing one post a week for three months with the new strategy, MOZ domain analysis had successfully recategorized the main theme of the site from “professional development” to “creative writing.”
After five months, the blog started gaining more email subscribers and valid comments engaging with posts.
Site analytics suggest people have bookmarked and shared specific feed pages on the site, meaning they are returning often to see what’s new.