A theologian with a book and no digital presence
The client — Agaba John Edward — had published a theological work and needed a professional online presence to go with it. The core problem: how do you sell a book online to readers in Uganda, where most people don't have international credit cards, and most web payment solutions are built for Western markets?
The secondary challenge was sustainability. The client is a writer, not a developer. Whatever was built had to be something he could manage himself — publishing new blog posts, updating content, seeing who had subscribed — without ever touching code or paying a developer for routine updates.
Budget was a real constraint too. The solution had to be professional, performant, and run at essentially zero ongoing cost.
Cloudflare stack, Flutterwave payments, custom CMS
The entire site is built on Cloudflare Pages — static HTML, CSS, and vanilla JS served from the global CDN. No servers. No monthly hosting bill. The domain is the only recurring cost (roughly UGX 44,000 per year).
For payments, Flutterwave was the clear answer. It handles Mobile Money (MTN MoMo, Airtel Money), Visa, and Mastercard — all in UGX — and has an API that integrates cleanly without requiring a server, using a Cloudflare Worker to verify transactions.
The blog and admin panel run on a custom-built CMS using Cloudflare Workers and KV storage. The admin panel gives the client a Quill.js rich text editor to write and publish posts, with no external dependencies or subscription fees.
Warm & Editorial style
The chosen design language was Warm & Editorial — the fourth of the 8 design styles offered. Serif typography, warm cream tones, generous whitespace. The design feels like a quality theology book, not a corporate website. That fit the author's work and audience precisely.
Everything delivered
- Homepage with hero, book preview, author bio, blog teaser, and email signup CTA
- Dedicated book page with synopsis, chapter preview PDF, and purchase button
- Flutterwave checkout — Mobile Money (MTN & Airtel) + Visa/Mastercard in UGX
- Post-payment PDF delivery via secure Cloudflare R2 signed URL (expires after 24h)
- Blog with categories, tags, search, and pagination — unlimited posts
- Email subscriber list with lead magnet (free chapter) delivery on signup
- Custom admin panel: post editor (Quill.js), subscriber list export, order history
- About page with author photo, bio, speaking engagements, and contact form
- Mobile-first design — tested on sub-3s load time on 4G (Kampala)
- Full SEO setup: meta tags, Open Graph, Schema.org Book + Person JSON-LD
- Google Analytics (4) + Cloudflare Web Analytics — privacy-first dual tracking
- Sitemap submitted to Google Search Console on launch day
The stack
Every tool chosen for longevity, cost, and performance on Uganda's networks.
Live, fast, and fully managed by the client
The site went live within three weeks of the brief being agreed. Since launch, the client has published multiple blog posts using the admin panel, grown an email subscriber list, and processed book sales via Mobile Money — without a single support call about routine updates.
The site loads in under 2.5 seconds on a mid-range Android phone on Uganda's 4G network (tested via WebPageTest from Johannesburg). Cloudflare's edge network means readers in Kampala, Nairobi, and Lagos all get fast response times.
Ongoing hosting cost: UGX 44,000 per year (domain only). Everything else — hosting, CDN, SSL, database, email — is free.
"TillForge built exactly what I needed — a site that represents my book professionally and lets readers buy it with Mobile Money. The blog admin is so simple I update it myself every week. I had no idea this was even possible at this price and without ongoing monthly fees."