Simon Vance’s audio book publishing site is now live: simonvance.com. We’ve been working together on his site for a while, but much of the time spent came because he’s tech savvy enough to build a site in HTML. He knows enough in Photoshop to make give his books a 3D effect, knows enough Dreamweaver to dig into files and figure out how they work. He updated his old site using Dreamweaver and HTML and was doing just fine. So what’s the catch? Why switch to a content management system? Because even if you do know HTML and CSS, it’s still going to be easier to add content using a content management system like WordPress.

Simon controls every content aspect of his site. He adds the video, embeds them into the sidebar. He Photoshops his book covers just right and can add them to the Featured Content Gallery so they fade into the next one. He can add content into his sidebars (Twitter updates, links to publishers and books). I just noticed this: his site has been up just a few days and already he’s getting comments and answering them. Take that, Dreamweaver!

He can also optimize his search engine status by using plugins like All In One SEO Pack so that people can know that . . .  drum roll  . . . Simon is reading the third novel in the Millennium trilogy: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.