Becoming a famous author is not a simple task, especially since there are about thousands of authors and writers in the world. As a writer, readers and publishers must first discover your work before you even have a chance of getting published and becoming famous.
Having an author website is one way for you and your work to be found.
In this modern world, society has widely utilized and linked technology in practically every aspect of their lives. Almost all people use it to do everyday things, interact with people, do business, and many more.
An author website is a useful tool to make your presence known on the internet. With a presence on the Internet, authors and writers can easily reach a wider scope of audiences from readers to publisher alike all over the world any time they like. This will help you build your identity and portfolio, sell more of your works, and increase your followers.
Unlike having a social networking account, an author website allows you to have complete control of its design, your content, its functionality, and what you can do with your followers. This is a perfect investment for every writer and author.
Creating Your Author Website
Setting up an author website doesn’t require any special skills. Even non-techie people can do it. Just follow these steps and you are ready to go.
1.-Buy a domain name and select a host
Your domain name will be your own address on the internet. This will allow your audience to reach you when they search for you on the internet. It is recommended that you use the name your books are published under – whether it’s your real name or your pen name. When you have your own domain name, the next step is choosing a provider to host or broadcast your website.
2.-Select a hosting provider
A hosting provider is where you host your website or domain, store your files, and provide connectivity so your audience can access them.
There are a lot of hosting providers out there that offer different prices, packages, and types of hosting. Authors and writers may opt for a self-hosting plan for just a few bucks, or a managed hosting plan for a more expensive price. Of course there are also companies that offer hosting services for free, however, these services have limitations and you may not have the freedom to include the functionality of earning money from your author website.
3.-Build your website
Depending on the hosting provider you have chosen, you can have complete control on how your website may look – from the fonts, their colors, the background, header, footer, sidebar, and other details of your website. Like a book cover, it needs to attract the attention of your audience. The design and tone of your website must also match your work and genre.
If you are writing, for example, a book about wizards, you can try to incorporate the world of your work on your website like what JK Rowling did. For non-fiction writers who write things about nutrition and diet, or mental health and addiction-like Patrick Bailey, you can keep it simple and professional. It is important that every page on your website must keep the audience interested and also provide a call to action.
4.-Include the important elements
Aside from the homepage, your author website must include the important elements of an author website. You need to include an About Page which contains information about you, the author, what you write, what you have written, what you’re working on, basically anything that your readers and future readers need to know about you. You need a Contact Page and a link to your social networks to interact with your readers as well as publishers or agents that may be interested to work with you. You can provide an e-mail sign up to stay in touch with your visitors.
5.-Create valuable content
Most people get carried away with customizing and personalizing their author website that they forget the most important thing. Yes, just like with book covers, the design of your website is important, but its content, what the audience can get from it, is the most important and valuable part of your author website. Aside from the published articles, your author website may include photos, videos, podcasts, quizzes, contests, tips, related resources, and many more. If you can provide your audience with something other than information about you and your books, you can be rest assured that they will keep coming back to your author website.
Once you have your author website, it is important that you maximize its use. You can look at the trends on what types of content receive more traffic, your visitors, and how they navigate your website. Through this, you can use it to your advantage and earn more followers and money.
Author: The Digital Marketing Guru
The Digital Marketing Guru is a full-service digital marketing agency. We’ve been providing a wide range of services to clients of all industries since 2010. Our digital marketing services include consulting and management options for a variety of online marketing tactics including search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) ads, copywriting conversion rate optimization (CRO), and more. We also offer expert web design and development services for both eCommerce and B2B companies. Don’t just partner with any digital marketing agency; work with a company you can trust.