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Everything You Need To Build An Author Website Now
Why build an author website?
I had no idea that there would be so many new skills to learn when I decided to write books. Creating and launching an author website was not on my to-do list!
From hours of research, I discovered that a book without readers is like a boat without sails. It might appeal to the eye, but it will not get you very far! Being an author in our modern world involves so much more than getting your ideas onto the page.
How and when to connect to readers?
Sharing stories and insights into my life is a great way to make connections with you, the reader. I will share the process that I follow when writing and self-publishing my books. In addition, I want to share other aspects of my life: –
- what I read about
- interests and hobbies that feature in my writing
- topics that inspire or infuriate
- and other stories that influence me.
As a consequence, creating an author website was an obvious way to share that content. And what better time to start than at the very beginning of this new adventure?
How to build an author website?
The wealth of information about this topic can feel overwhelming, to say the least! The internet is jam-packed full of advice and services. As a result, knowing where to start and how to be successful proved more difficult than it first appeared!
To avoid information overload, I followed this simple step-by-step list to create this website:-
Build an Author Website
- Choose a hosting service
I am using Bluehost – it’s not a free service, but it’s pricing is very competitive. There are free providers, if you prefer.
- Choose and register a website name (domain name)
This came as part of the Bluehost hosting package
- Create a business email address linked to your domain name
You can do this for free with Bluehost
- Choose your website builder
WordPress is part of the Bluehost package and is very easy to use and customize. It uses a drag-and-drop builder to make producing content quick and easy.
- Customize your theme
WordPress comes with a multitude of free themes – I chose the Twenty Twenty One theme which is free OR:
you can pay for a premium theme - Now create the pages that will hold your content
as an author I have included:- my About page;
a Now page;
a Blog page which will feature posts just like this one and
a page which will feature my Books. - Finally, write the content for each page.
Over to you!
Research
One mistake I made at the outset was not researching what a good author website looks like/offers to its readers. I created a site, but I was dissatisfied with the way it functioned. Then, I did some research and to be honest I had to start all over again!
Don’t make that mistake; it was frustrating and time-consuming.
Obviously you should never look to copy someone else’s creation, but a general look at the style and structure of other author sites will point you in the right direction.
Sources of information
wpbeginner is the most useful and practical source of information on this topic; the tab is permanently open on my browser!
I’m not proposing to regurgitate all the wealth of information there because I couldn’t possibly explain it any better than they do! I have found an answer to every problem I’ve encountered along the way, and more besides. They are also very responsive to questions if you cannot find the answer you are looking for.
More To-Do’s
Besides the 7 basic steps for building the website, I would add the following key to-do’s:-
- A .com website name (called ‘domain name’) is still the gold standard in website names. Keep the name short and simple and avoid punctuation. You want it to be easy to remember and easy to type!
- Use a professional email subscription service and link it to the business email address you set up and your website. I am using Mailerlite who offer a free plan up to 1,000 subscribers. Perfect for a new author. If you email anyone without permission, not only is it downright rude, it is against innumerable spam laws and could result in a large fine. DON’T do it!
- Make sure you research privacy law, how it governs your site and the ways you propose to interact with your readers.
- Write a Privacy Policy for your site and a Cookie Policy. Helpfully, the WordPress builder, comes with a draft Privacy Policy which you can adapt.
- In order to make sure that people can find your website and read your content, you need to make sure that Google and other search engines can find it. Courtesy of the advice from wpbeginner, I used the free version of Yoast SEO plugin to streamline that process. Yoast SEO also have excellent training videos which talk you through everything.
A plugin is a piece of software that can be added to a WordPress site to carry out a specific function or functions.
SEO stands for search engine optimization; a fancy way of saying ‘help people find you on the internet’.
- Done with those? Then you’re good to go!
Final thoughts…
Without doubt, creating a website is one of those tasks that’s never finished. As a professed perfectionist, I know I need to just launch this boat and hope that it floats!
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