Kelly Morton

Kelly Morton - Web Developer

Sydney NSW, Australia

• Squarespace Web Designer • Former Head of Digital Marketing in Publishing • I create websites that work • Bestselling authors are clients

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Overview

Hi, I'm Kelly. I'm a Squarespace website designer with over a decade of publishing experience working with authors. I've also been an international guest speaker at the Publishers Association of New Zealand Conference where I spoke about Digital Marketing within the industry.

I now have my own business following my passion for building websites.

My website projects include:
☞ Crime writer and beloved Australian journalist Michael Brissenden
☞ Fiction Author Dianne Yarwood
☞ Dark Thriller author Sally-Anne Martyn
☞ Crime author Matthew Spencer
☞ International bestselling Historical Fiction author Belinda Alexandra

Throughout my career, I've worked in nearly every aspect of digital marketing when it comes to authors and publishing and I have a deep understanding of how all aspects work and come together including what's needed at every stage of the publishing process.

Basically, I am in love with building websites, I'm a big ol' dork for it, and would be honoured to help create your dream come to life online. Let's have a chat!

Clients include:
☞ Rosalie Ham | Internationally bestselling Australian author
☞ Alexandra Joel | Bestselling Australian author
☞ Allen & Unwin | Publisher
☞ Dervla McTiernan | Internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed crime writer
☞ HarperCollins Publishers Australia | Publisher
☞ The New York Times Style Magazine T Australia
☞ Gail Renard | Bafta award-winning writer, performer and producer
☞ Pan Macmillan Australia | Publisher
☞ Matthew Spencer | Exciting new crime writer
☞ Dianne Yarwood | Debut author of The Wakes, which is to be adapted for TV
☞ Michael Brissenden | Crime writer and beloved Australian journalist
Services
Fiction
Contemporary Fiction
Historical Fiction
Mystery & Crime
Psychological Thriller
Works with
Squarespace

Work experience

Founder

Self-employed
April, 2019 – Present (almost 4 years)

Kelly is a Sydney-based designer specialising in Squarespace website design and SEO. Stylish and accessible Squarespace websites designed with your audience in mind.

Head of Digital Marketing

Hachette Australia Books
November, 2014 – August, 2018 (over 3 years)

I ran the Digital Marketing department and oversaw all aspects including budget, online channels, author campaigns, and innovation. During this time the website was overhauled and their email marketing was created.

Digital Marketing Manager

Hachette Australia Books
October, 2013 – October, 2014 (about 1 year)

I looked after all aspects of digital marketing for the company including social media channels, author marketing campaigns and website.

Marketing Manager – Hodder & Headline Division‏

Hachette Australia Books
December, 2012 – October, 2013 (10 months)

Heading up the marketing for the Hodder and Headline Division which included working on marketing campaigns for the likes of Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, John Grisham and many more.

Projects

Fiction Author Sara Staggs

Sara is a fresh writer with an incredible story that I met on this platform, Reedsy. She needed an ecosystem to house her book(s), her growing blog and her social media. Her story, her way. Sara had an entry-level website already and we worked together to elevate her brand and improve her SEO, and overall professional space as a new author. Sara is an amazing person doing amazing things. It was an honour to help create her space with her.

Crime Writer and Journalist Michael Brissenden

Michael Brissenden is a name that’s well-known in Australia as a trusted journalist for the past 30 years and also as an incredible writer. He had a one-page website that was letting him down. Michael and I worked together to create a space that would showcase his books along with his previous journalistic work. We created pages for his books, updated his SEO strategy and made sure his site was easy for the user to navigate. We ensured we added information that readers would be looking for as well as treasures like audio samples, chapter samples, links to buy and more. He's active on Twitter and we were keen to incorporate that into the design and we now have an ecosystem that better represents Michael and his work. I had a blast putting this together.

Debut Author with TV Adaptation | Dianne Yarwood's website

Dianne Yarwood is an incredible new Australian author whose book is to be adapted for TV! Dianne needed a brand new website and I had an idea to play with the titles and hovers in an elegant way to make it easy for the user to navigate. It was so much fun to build from the ground up with Dianne and work through how best to help readers find her and her new book. We had fun showing her beautiful dog, Teddy as we also looked at what she needed in her website in terms of how she needed it to work for her, SEO, sharing her Instagram and most importantly where to find her book. We have a website that we're both proud of. I loved building this website!

Psychological Thriller Author Siobhan McKenna's Website

Siobhan would have to be one of the most impressive people I’ve had the pleasure to meet. Siobhan already had a website in place that needed a little refresh/rebuild, SEO set up and better usability and navigation for visitors put in place. I love what we put together.

Historical Fiction Author Alexandra Joel's Website

Alexandra Joel is an extraordinary person and being able to help guide her to showcase her writing and let her readers be a part of her life with her website/social media has been pure joy. This was a build from domain to complete creation of the website and social media platforms.

Historical Fiction Author Belinda Alexandra's Website

The brilliant international bestselling author, Belinda Alexandra, needed a website after her’s had lapsed. Together we looked at exactly what she wanted the website to do, how it was to look and the environment she wanted to create to share her books. I absolutely adore the ecosystem we created making sure her readers were at the forefront of all decisions.

Crime Author Matthew Spencer's Website

Matthew is an incredible new voice in crime writing in Australia and needed a website put together quickly as his book was being sold into bookstores and he didn’t have an online presence yet. From the domain to planning to build, we put our heads together and in three weeks and created a site that honours Matt and his incredible book. This was a super fun build.

Dark Thriller Author Sally-Anne Martyn's Website

Sally-Anne Martyn is an exciting new author with a three-book deal. We needed to create an ecosystem to showcase not only Sally-Anne but her books and her incredible style. After looking at the functionality needed, SEO, and working with Sally-Anne's already established newsletter on Substack we then were able to have some fun with some of the more spooky stylistic approaches.

Kelly has 1 review

Professionalism
Professionalism
Quality
Quality
Value
Value
Communication & Punctuality
Communication & Punctuality

Sara Staggs
Have you SEEN the website Kelly built me?! It's an amazing experience! She was so thoughtful, and I felt like she really listened and understood what I wanted by the time the design started. The website works like a dream, she had great, creative ideas of how to make it look professional, and I would love to hire her again! Beautiful work, wonderful person, I can't recommend Kelly highly enough...
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Sara Staggs, March 2023

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