Website Design Plan
Five strategic upgrades — implementation specifications, copy, and Squarespace instructions
Five gaps separate the Burgess website from the competitive field. Two are conversion-critical: no events calendar makes an events-based campaign invisible, and no email capture means every site visitor is permanently lost. Two are credibility gaps: no endorsements page and a buried credential hierarchy put the site behind Niman, Valles, and Yee. One is a structural brand problem: two live domains split every press mention and Google search. All five can be resolved in Squarespace with no outside developer. This document provides exact implementation steps, copy, and design specifications for each fix.
Master Timeline
| Fix | Priority | Est. Time | Squarespace Skill Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Events Calendar | Critical | 2–3 hrs | Add Events page type + recurring entries |
| 2. Email Signup on Every Page | Critical | 1–2 hrs | Global footer block + newsletter integration |
| 3. Endorsements Page | High | 2–4 hrs | New page, text blocks, quote layout |
| 4. Three-Word Hero Credential | High | 30 min | Edit homepage hero text block |
| 5. Domain Consolidation | Medium | 1 hr + 48-hr DNS propagation | Squarespace domain settings + redirect |
Your campaign model is built entirely on in-person presence — festivals, farmers markets, county fairs, community meetings. But every voter who visits your website has no idea where you will be next. There is no path from digital interest to physical contact. Huffman publishes every event. Yee maintains a live calendar. Both are converting site visitors into in-person encounters that your site is not.
This is the most urgent fix. A voter who discovers you through a press mention, a shared Facebook post, or a Google search should immediately see: Greg is at the Ukiah Farmers Market this Saturday at 10 AM. Without that, the visit ends and the connection is lost permanently.
- 1Add an Events page. In Squarespace: Pages → + (Add Page) → Events. Title it "Community Events" or "Meet Greg." Set it as a top-level nav item.
- 2Set the URL slug. Set to
/events. This is the URL you will share on social media and in press outreach. - 3Configure the Events page display. Choose "List" view as the default (not calendar grid — it renders poorly on mobile). Enable location display. Enable the "Add to Calendar" button.
- 4Add your first events. Enter each event using the Squarespace event editor. Required fields for each entry: Event name · Date and start time · Location (street address so Google Maps works) · Brief description (2–3 sentences).
- 5Add the Events link to your main navigation. Pages → Navigation → drag Events into the primary nav. Position it between "Your County" and "The Bills" — it should be one of the first three items.
- 6Add an upcoming events summary block to your homepage. On the homepage, insert a Summary Block (not a Text block) that pulls from the Events page and displays the next 3–5 upcoming events. This makes events visible without the visitor ever clicking away.
Meet Gregory Burgess — Your County, Your Community
This campaign runs on community presence, not advertising. Come find Greg at a festival, farmers market, or community meeting in your county. No appointment needed. Bring your questions. Bring your neighbors.
Gregory Burgess will be at [EVENT NAME] in [CITY], [COUNTY] County. Stop by the campaign table to read the bills, ask questions, and talk about the issues that matter to your community. No political speeches. Just conversation. R.O.A.R. — Restore Our American Republic.
Event types to list
- County fairs and festivals
- Farmers markets (weekly)
- Community town halls
- Library appearances
- Tribal community events
- Fishing port visits
- Rancher association meetings
- Candidate forums (any)
What each event entry needs
- Full event name
- Date + start/end time
- Full street address
- County label in title
- 2–3 sentence description
- "Add to Calendar" enabled
- Optional: photo of venue
You have no way to contact anyone who visits your website. No email list means no ability to notify supporters of upcoming events, published op-eds, or letters to the editor. Every visitor who leaves without signing up is permanently unreachable. Valles, Yee, and Littau all capture emails. You do not.
This is especially critical for an earned-media campaign. When an op-ed runs in the Eureka Times-Standard or a letter to the editor appears in the Ukiah Journal, you need a list to amplify it. Without email, each press hit is a one-day event. With a list, it becomes a mobilization moment.
Location A — Global Footer (appears on every page):
- 1Go to Design → Footer. Add a new section or edit the existing footer.
- 2Insert a Newsletter block (under Blocks → More → Newsletter). This is Squarespace's built-in email capture.
- 3Set the form title and button text (see copy below).
- 4Connect to your email provider. Squarespace integrates natively with Mailchimp and Google Workspace. If you have a Gmail list, use the Squarespace built-in email storage (Settings → Email Campaigns) as a starting point.
Location B — Homepage above the fold:
- 5On the homepage, add a Newsletter block directly below the hero stats bar — before any bill content. A visitor who arrives from a press mention should see the signup within 2 scrolls.
Location C — Events page:
- 6At the bottom of the Events page, add a second Newsletter block with the specific copy: "Get notified when Greg comes to your county."
Get Campaign Updates
When Greg publishes an op-ed, appears at a festival in your county, or releases a new bill, you'll hear about it. No spam. No fundraising asks. Just Show Your Work — R.O.A.R.
Stay Informed →
When We Publish, You'll Know First
Letters to the editor. Op-eds. New bills. Festival appearances across all 9 counties. Sign up and we'll notify you — one email at a time.
Get Notified When Greg Comes to Your County
Angelita Valles and Rose Yee both publish endorsements prominently. You have none visible. Endorsements are social proof — they tell a skeptical voter that someone credible has already done the vetting. An NPP candidate with no visible endorsements looks like an NPP candidate who asked and was turned down.
You have assets no other candidate in this race can match: 30 years in behavioral health (network of clinicians, social workers, administrators), CDC federal service (colleagues across public health), Teamster membership (union network), food bank volunteer relationships, and documented pre-campaign advocacy that earned you direct contact with West Marin residents, the Point Reyes Light, and county agricultural communities. Any of those contacts who will put their name on the page changes the dynamic.
- 1Create a new Blank Page. Title: "Endorsements." URL slug:
/endorsements. Add to nav under the "About" dropdown or as a standalone item. - 2Build in three tiers: (A) named individuals with quotes, (B) organizations or groups, (C) the community letter counter if applicable.
- 3For each named endorser: use a Quote block or a two-column Text block — name and title on the left, quote on the right. County label in bold.
- 4Add a "Request to Endorse" button linking to the Contact page. Label it: "Add Your Name →"
People Who Know the Work — and Stand Behind It
This campaign was built on action before advertising. The people below saw the work before we asked for anything. Their names are here because they chose to put them here — not because we paid to place them.
"[Quote — ideally referencing a specific bill, action, or issue Greg worked on.]"
— [Full Name], [Title or Role], [County] County
Want to add your name? If you've read the bills, attended a community meeting, or followed this campaign's work — and you're ready to stand behind it — contact us. We'd be honored to include you.
Your endorsement networks
- Behavioral health colleagues (30 yrs)
- CDC / public health contacts
- Teamsters union members
- A Simple Gesture / food bank community
- West Marin residents (988 letters sent)
- Point Reyes ranching community
- Tribal community contacts
- Modoc/Humboldt agricultural contacts
What makes a strong endorser
- Recognizable county-level name
- Specific reason tied to a bill or action
- Willing to be publicly named
- Represents an underserved county
- Cross-partisan appeal (rancher, tribal, union)
- Title that builds credibility
Use this as the basis for a direct email or phone call to contacts from your network:
"Hi [Name] — this is Greg Burgess. I'm running for Congress in CA-2 as a No Party Preference candidate. I wanted to reach out personally because [specific reason you know them / what you worked on together]. I've drafted 38+ bills covering [relevant issue for this person] and filed a 25-category FOIA request on the Point Reyes settlement before spending a dollar on advertising. I'm building an endorsements page and I'd be honored to include your name. All I need is your name, title, and a sentence or two about why you're supporting this campaign. No donation ask — this campaign doesn't take donations. Would you be willing to put your name behind the work?"
Nicolette Hahn Niman's homepage hero reads: Rancher. Author. Lawyer. Three words. Every voter who lands on her page knows who she is in three seconds. Your bio buries the equivalent credentials — CDC Quarantine Officer, 30 years behavioral health, food security researcher — in dense paragraphs that most voters never read.
Voters scan, they don't read. The three-word model (used by Niman, Yee's "People. Peace. Planet.", and Littau's "Faith. Hope. Family.") is a proven pattern because it creates an instant mental filing category for the candidate. You need yours.
- 1Go to the homepage in Squarespace editor. Click the hero section.
- 2Find the subheading or eyebrow text directly under "Gregory Burgess" / "An Honest Economy for All."
- 3Replace or add a line that reads exactly as the chosen credential (see options below). It should sit directly under the candidate name — before the main H1 if possible, or immediately after it.
- 4Style it in a smaller, lighter weight than the main headline — approximately 1rem, letter-spaced, no bold. The contrast should feel like a subtitle, not a second headline.
Public Health. Show Your Work. CA-2.
CDC Officer. 38 Bills Written. No PAC Money.
Behavioral Health. Food Security. Your Neighbor.
Public Health · R.O.A.R. · Show Your Work
Option A is recommended because "Public Health" is a credential that is immediately comprehensible across the full CA-2 geographic range — rural northern counties care about healthcare access — and it signals a different kind of expertise than the other candidates offer. "Show Your Work" is the campaign's most unique differentiator. "CA-2" grounds it geographically without requiring explanation.
You are operating two live domains: vote-roar.com and gregoryburgessforcongress.com. Every press mention, social share, and word-of-mouth referral is currently splitting between two URLs. Google sees two separate sites and ranks both lower than it would rank one. Voters who type one URL and land on a different experience are confused.
The FEC-filed address is gregoryburgessforcongress.com. That is the canonical domain. vote-roar.com should redirect to it permanently (301 redirect), not host a separate version of the site.
- 1Confirm your primary domain. In Squarespace: Settings → Domains. Verify that
gregoryburgessforcongress.comis set as the "Primary Domain." The primary domain is what all traffic will resolve to. - 2Add vote-roar.com as a connected domain. If it is not already listed in Settings → Domains, add it. Squarespace will prompt you to update DNS settings at your domain registrar.
- 3Set vote-roar.com to redirect to the primary. Once connected, Squarespace will automatically redirect all traffic from the non-primary domain to the primary. Verify this is enabled.
- 4Wait 24–48 hours for DNS propagation. After making changes, test both URLs in an incognito browser window. Both should resolve to gregoryburgessforcongress.com.
- 5Update all external references. Any place vote-roar.com appears in printed materials, social media bios, email signatures, or existing press should eventually be updated to gregoryburgessforcongress.com. Prioritize: social media bios, email signature, any volunteer materials.
- 6Update all internal website links. Search every page for "vote-roar.com" links and update to gregoryburgessforcongress.com equivalents. The Volunteer page in particular had many vote-roar links embedded in scripts and templates.
Places to update after redirect
- Facebook / Instagram / X bio
- Email signature (all accounts)
- Volunteer scripts and materials
- Any printed flyers or postcards
- VOTE411 / League of Women Voters listing
- Any existing press release footers
What the redirect does NOT affect
- Existing bookmarks (they forward)
- Published press links (they forward)
- EDDM mailer URLs already mailed
- FEC filing (legal address unchanged)
- Google ranking (improves, not hurts)
Implementation Checklist
Print and check off as completed. Target: all five fixes live before April 15, 2026 (seven weeks to primary).