Premier Book Fair Event Websites

The first two of the 6 Premier Fair websites webSEOlive were commissioned to create for the PBFA (Provincial BookSellers Fairs Association) have now gone live (see  Dublin Book Fair & Bath Book Fair).

Easy to Use, Updatable Content Management System

These websites are built around a custom-built WordPress theme utilising dynamic content called in from a combination of WordPress’s custom fields, customised page templates, posts, pages & plug-ins, to allow for a simple and, in theory, low-maintenance site architecture that allows the PBFA’s respective Fair Managers to update all the key information present as well as adding textual visual elements themselves each year.

The websites all feature a vertical navigation in a left-hand sidebar using a combination of javascript and CSS tricks to create a slight animation effect on mouse-over (with CSS fallback for the inevitably deficient IE8); the sidebar also contains latest news relating to the Fair (fed from Posts using a pre-specified category of ‘News’), and two RSS feeds representing news local to the Fair location and trade-sector news respectively.

Social Media & Newsletter Subscription

A widget created by the PBFA’s e-newsletter providers GraphicMail allows users to sign up to the PBFA newsletters directly from the premier fair sites’ sidebar, whilst the Contact Form 7 plug-in allows them to contact the Fair Managers directly with any Fair-related queries. Google Maps is embedded into the Location & Contact page to provide an interactive element for visitors to identify the Fairs’ locations.

Each site has also been tied in with a related Facebook & Twitter account, with the Fair Managers given admin rights to these too, so they can update Fans & Followers about any Fair developments.

Testing & Training

All the sites were developed & tested locally using WAMP (Windows Apache, MySQL & PHP) before going live, and were mocked up initially in Photoshop. The Fair Managers and PBFA were presented with a PDF instruction manual with step-by-by step instructions on how to update and maintain the sites themselves.