8 Tips For Creating Author Websites

Whether you’re an aspiring author or a long-standing novelist, potential readers of your work expect to be able to look up both you and your books online. So when they do, make sure that you have an attractive website that will appeal to your target market.

Creating a website doesn't necessarily have to be a costly process; online platforms such as Wix.com provide a free resource where writers can create a professional and engaging website.

 Here are their top 8 tips on how to get started online:

• Template research: choose a template that grabs your attention. Drag and drop website components around the page to give it the look and feel you want. Take your pick from the selection of author templates which are ready and waiting to quickly get you started.

• Show off time: people love nothing more and expect nothing less than a book that comes highly recommended. So show off your positive book reviews as soon as possible, preferably on your website’s homepage. Add them as text boxes to your websites or visit the App Market and add one of the Testimonial apps to include well-designed reviews that are easy to edit and can be customised to match your website’s design.

• Sell yourself: often, what sells a book, is the author rather than the book subject itself. Adding an attractive bio page to tell readers who you are and what your past work has been can be a huge selling point in sealing the deal.

• Make shopping easy: You’ve grabbed their attention and now it’s vital not to lose that impending sale. Create an online shop for immediate book sales, include a link to Amazon or tell readers where they can buy your book in a ‘Stocklists’ page.

• News and events: Keep your fans up-to-date with book launches, promotional events and other relevant news to keep them engaged and excited about your work. Generating hype is a vital marketing technique and it can be easily incorporated into your online presence.

• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): Work on getting your site found in search engines, like Google, by including your keywords into your website. Make sure to include your name, the names of your books and any prizes that you’ve won into your site’s keywords so that you feature higher in searches.

• Mobile friendly: Help out people who are browsing your site on their mobile phones, by activating the mobile optimised version of your website. Then add a Mobile Action Bar so that in one click, mobile browsers can send you an email, follow you on social media and jump to the internal pages of your website.

• Customise your site: Whilst branding your website, keep in mind some basic design elements: use legible and clean fonts; place logo in the top left-hand corner or center top; and if using a background colour, put the font in a strong colour that stands out.

Article provided for Writers & Artists by Wix.com.