Get Published
Then Build an Author’s Website
Introduction
Building an author’s website allows you to create interaction directly with your current and potential readers. It allows you to structure content they want and can cater specifically to what you want to convey to them. Your site will become an integral form of advertising and announcements, specifically to dedicated fans who want to keep up with your progress. Social media is fine. Mailing lists are better. Starting a mailing list on your site with your brand is advertising gold, as it caters to fans and potential fans who specifically request the information. Anyone can do this. You do not have to be very tech savvy. A lot of web builder platforms are predominantly drag and drop, which means you’re not required to know complicated coding or syntax. Read on for a quick how to get started overview on how to do it yourself.
Choose a Platform
There are many platform options available. There are pros and cons for each of them. Before searching for a home, jot down some notes that are important to you. For instance, cost, ease of use, customization, and built-in templates. Some cons might include ad-supported options, SEO limitations, and a clunky interface. With my site, I opted for the simple-is-better angle. I need to spend my time writing, not maintaining a website. I wanted a site I could get up and running and then set it to cruise control, requiring minimal time for updates.
Some of the popular hosting platforms are Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy There are many other options. These three came to mind as I wrote this. It is subjective. Take it with a grain of salt and use the info as a basis while you search for options that best fit your needs.
First, Wix and Squarespace. Why? Branding. Remember, the idea for having a website is branding. You’ll want to use your own domain name and brand. To do that, you’ll need to purchase and register your domain name. For example, www.yourcompany.com. You can register a domain name through most hosting sites, including the ones listed above.
Up next, GoDaddy. Why? Good and bad points. They are exceptionally good at hosting. Not so much as a website design platform. I’ve used GoDaddy to host hundreds of sites, but I’ve never considered using them for designing websites. The options are minimal and geared towards beginners who just need to get a basic site online quickly, without bells and whistles. If you’re wanting to build your brand, this may not be your best option.
Of course, price is always a concern. Look at the pricing structure of any hosting site you’re interested in. You’ll want to look for the basics: how much is the monthly/annual cost for the basics? Then tack on extras like the newsletter module and an ecommerce package if you intend to sell your books or other products directly from your site. For newsletters, there are external options as well. For instance, Mailchimp or MailerLite are excellent options for building mailing lists and producing newsletters. They may even integrate directly with your hosting site choice. I know Mailchimp integrates seamlessly with Squarespace and offers more configurable options.
Register Your Domain Name
After choosing a hosting company, you’ll want to choose and register your domain name. Registering your site’s domain name makes the site yours, searchable as your domain name, and hopefully easy for your users to remember. When you drive traffic to your website, you want them to go to www.yoursite.com.
On naming the site, as an author, if your first and last name is available, consider registering it as the site name. Example, www.bobgreen.com. Readers sometimes assume your author name is the logical name for your site. While you can use a hyphen between the first and last name, it’s sort of best practice to use the names together. It makes for less guesswork for someone trying to find your site. Even if it’s not the name you intend to use, if available, you might purchase it anyway just in case you change your mind. If someone scoops it up, it can be tough, if not impossible, to get. You can sometimes negotiate with the owner to buy it, but there’s no guarantee. It costs very little to register and hold it.
The Legal Stuff
For Newsletters
If you’re going to run a newsletter, there’s a legal requirement to have a physical mailing address. It can be your home address, but you might consider a separate business address more in line with your brand. You can set these up easily with places like The UPS Store or Anytime Mailbox, which offer physical street addresses. Note that you can’t use PO Boxes for this purpose.
There are also laws governing digital privacy and data protection that you’ll need to comply with. The big one in the US is the CAN-SPAM Act. It is what outlines, in part, the physical address requirement mentioned above. There are other requirements as well, some specific to other countries. Here’s a good article by mailtrap that goes into much more detail than I can squeeze in here.
Your Privacy Policy
You’ll need to develop a privacy policy and provide a link to it on your site. There are several online services that can generate this type of legal document. One popular service is Termly. They host a bunch of legal documents online that you can purchase and tailor it to your needs. You can then download the finished product to your website. The prices are reasonable and once you have an account, you can go back and update the document as needed for free.
I’m sure I’ve made it all sound awful, but it’s not as scary or as complicated as it sounds. Most of it comes down to just using good judgement.
Pulling It All Together
Now it’s time to bring it all together. Designing your site is the fun part. Tackle the basics first, the header, the footer, and the color scheme. You’ll want to make most, if not all, of your pages conform to a constant theme. Create your newsletter sign-up forms and ensure it is prominent on all pages. Create a contact form and ensure the link to it is in the header. If you’re going to be selling books directly from your site, set up your ecommerce pages. That will include the inventory, order forms, and payment options.
If the platform you chose doesn’t support payment options, there are plenty of third-party providers available, such as Paypal and the industry standard, Stripe. While it’s fine to direct payments to your personal bank account, you might open a separate business account.
The Next Steps
Accomplishing the above will get you on your way to giving your loyal fans a place to communicate with you directly. You can announce upcoming events, current projects, and offer sneak peaks into what you’re currently working on. The sky’s the limit on what information you publish. Whether you want to go a step further and create a blog, or just create a page that gives your readers a glimpse into your personal life. It’s all up to you. And the good news is that once you get the basics established, everything else is just fun. One final basic point is to make quality and consistent updates so the search engines don’t overlook your site.
Of course, this is a simplistic overview of the process, but following these basic steps should give you a good starting point, or at least enough info to research how to move forward. To be sure, if you want a chance at competing, you’ll want something other than a useless Amazon Author’s page to interact directly with your readers. Even if you have a killer social media following, adding a customized website can’t hurt.
Conclusion
Creating an author’s website can help boost awareness, encourage interaction, and boost sales. But it’s not a given. There is a small learning curve to building and maintaining a website. If you will use it for business, there are legal requirements you’ll have to address, as well as business decisions related to banking. It can seem overwhelming, but trust me, it’s not. Once you’ve got your website setup, it will act as the hub for everything you want your readers to know about you and your ongoing projects.
As always, I hope this article was helpful. Use the contact form to ask me anything or suggest topics for future articles.
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