You wouldn’t go fishing without baiting your hook….and the best author websites present book buyers with “bait” as well.
Begin creating your author website by recognizing the fact that unless you’re a best selling author, most web surfers are not searching for your book by name. Chances are that unless you or your publisher has been promoting your book offline via television, radio, newspaper and magazines, people who want exactly what your book offers do not know your book exists!!!!
Therefore, instead of searching for your book by either Title or Author’s Name, book buyers will instead be searching for the solution your book provides to solve their problems.
Even if you’re a fiction writer – your book is “solving a problem”. Whether it’s a great romance novel – or a great mystery novel – readers of those genres are ALWAYS looking for a “fix” for their “addiction”.
The first step in being found on the web is to figure out WHY web visitors would want to buy your book.
If you do not already have a good idea of WHY web visitors would want to search for, find and then buy your book, then take time to figure it out before going further. This information is essential for creating a website that helps you sell your book online.
Your author website is bait to lure potential book buyers past tens of millions of other web sites and into your book’s web presence.
If you’re a non-fiction author, determining the “bait” you want to use may be as easy as falling off a log! For example, a book on the best baby names needs a web site FULL of content expectant mothers might be searching for on the web.
Even if you’re a fiction author, it’s essential to figure out what kind of people want to buy your book so you can begin creating content that acts as bait. If you’re the author of a science fiction novel, then focus on creating content that your readers already know and love. For example, if your novel appeals to fans of the television show Stargate SG-1… then start creating “fan site” style content around the television series. Perhaps you offer the “complete guide to Stargate SG-1 fan sites” as “bait” for your web presence.
Of course, when you’re fishing, the more lines you have in the water, the greater your chances are of catching fish. The same holds true of your web site. More pages = more content = more “bait in the water”. And as any one who fishes regularly will tell you… fresh bait works best of all – so it’s essential that your author website is not only beautiful – but easy to update as well.
If you’re looking for an easy to use tool which allows you to create a beautiful website for free – check out this free flash web tool.
