A great author websites sells books – but creating a great author website requires quite a bit of insight not only into your readers, but also how they use the web.
Follow these tips to create your own great author website.
Your author website should have a memorable design.
Every author website is different – and that’s the way it SHOULD be. If you’re an author, the last thing you want is a website that looks like another author’s website – so appearance matters.
Your website design should reflect your writing style. If you write fiction set in the 1880′s old west, then your site should reflect that design theme. Meanwhile, if your fictional hero resides in a galaxy far, far away – then your website design should reflect a different style and theme.
Ideally – when a visitor finds your author website – he/she should get a feel for the books you write before he/she has a chance to read a single word.
Your author website should be “findable” on the web.
Which brings us to the second essential thing every great author website needs – search engine friendly coding which displays that unique and memorable design.
If the search engines can’t find your site – they can’t include it in their index. Make sure the search engines can find your site.
A quick “test” to see if your current website can be found – type in your website’s domain name into Google or any other search engine. If your site doesn’t appear when you search for your domain name – you’ve got a serious problem.
Your author website should educate and entertain your visitor.
The best author websites offer insight not only into the author but also give more information than a reader can get from simply reading the book. Whether it’s including a prequel chapter for your novel – or additional information for your non-fiction book – be sure to offer the visitor MORE.
Your author website should include information about speaking engagements, book signings, radio interviews, etc.
One of the reasons you need an author website that YOU can edit yourself is you should be constantly letting people know where you’ll be speaking, signing copies of your book or doing interviews.
Your author website should direct visitors to where they can purchase your book.
You don’t HAVE to sell books via your website – you can let your publisher, Amazon and Barnes & Noble do the shipping for you… but you need to direct visitors to those publishers so they can quickly and easily order your book.
Feel free to share any other essentials necessary for a great author website in the comments below.
