Whether you use your website for content marketing or as a static home for information about you and your books, a website – in this day and age – is a must for all authors. Partner member, AllAuthor, are here to tell us what an ideal author website should contain.
Lakshmi Padmanaban from AllAuthor
What Should an Ideal Author Website Contain?
All this time, you may have hidden behind your books, letting them speak for you. But, your readers will want to know more about the person behind your amazing works. That’s where your author website comes into play.
While previously, author websites served as just another online point-of-contact, today, they've become much more than that. Your author website has become the junction for book marketing and promotional activities. It has helped many authors to strike a connection with their readers on a personal level and build a fan base.
If you want to enjoy all of that, then start by building a solid author website. Here are the important things any author website should have. So here are five things your author website should definitely include.
An Attractive and User-Friendly Website Design
What’s the point of having every other element right on your author website when the website design looks shabby?
More than any other feature, the website design is crucial to create a good first impression. A chaotic website with bundled up design and colour combinations that are painful to the eyes will scare your visitors off. Keep in mind that your author website directly represents your brand so you need to choose a design accordingly.
If you're someone who doesn't have the technical expertise to design websites, don't worry. There are a lot of decent website designs available online that you can buy for as low as $10 and customize with your required options. While picking out the website design, have the following points in your mind:
- Uncluttered design
- The right colour combination to ensure your font is visible clearly
- Legible font styles and sizes
- Quick access to the navigation menus
- Intuitive interface for easy use
Exhibit consistency in fonts, colours, headers and theme in all pages of the author website. While customizing the website design, think about your site from your visitor’s perspective – how the website design appeals to your readers and what they expect from your website.
An Author Biography That Resonates with The Readers
When your readers want to know more about the author, they immediately head to the ‘About’ section of your website. Therefore, your author bio should be the best it can be and give your readers some fodder for their curiosity. Here are some top tips for mastering your bio:
- Be you, be personal. Don't sound stiff even if you are an author of a professional book.
- Include at least one interesting fact about you to connect with the readers.
- If you have any personal stories that tell the reader about what shaped you into an author, don’t be shy to mention them.
- Include an appealing and friendly headshot. We know that you're not a professional photographer, but a clear author photograph will help to instantly connect with readers. Make sure to show your entire face clearly and smile at the camera.
Remember that new visitors who haven’t read your books can be convinced to give it a try with your style of writing!
Complete Details of the Books
Of course, no author website is complete without adding your books. However, it isn’t as simple as just adding the cover of your book.
Have an entire section for displaying all the books you've written with their cover images. Every book section should contain:
- An enticing book blurb
- The cover image
- The buy links for different online retailers
- Any separate social media profile you have for your books
If you've any recently-released books or best-selling books, you can feature them on the home page of the author website too.
Quick Links to Your Social Media Handles
Most authors now have a great social media profile where they post regular updates and interact with readers. It's essential to let your website visitors find you on social media too.
There are three ways you can include your social media handles:
- Direct follow links to your social media profiles on the side of the author website
- Include social media profile links on the home page of your website
- Add individual links to view or like your posts
Contact Forms and Email Sign-Ups
Make it simple for the visitors to reach you online! Include a simple contact form at the end of the website or as a separate ‘Contact’ page. You can also add your email ID in the Contact page and at the footer.
In the beginning, we mentioned that author websites are now used for book promotions. One way to gain many leads for your book marketing is through the email sign-ups. Ask your visitors to sign up for your personal blog, newsletters or to get an announcement for your next book. You can increase your email list which will come in handy when you want to promote a new book or introduce any book deals.
The All-Inclusive, Free Author Website at AllAuthor
All the essential elements we have seen above are all included in the free author website at AllAuthor. All you need to do is sign up as an author at AllAuthor and you will get your author website with an URL: yourname.allauthor.com
You can use this SEO-friendly author website for your book promotions, your author profile and as landing pages for advertisements. Check out an awesome author website of K.L.Shandwick from AllAuthor and see how great it looks!
You can find out more about AllAuthor on their social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
OVER TO YOU
What essential items do you include in your author website? Have you designed your own site? What does your ideal author website look like?
If you enjoyed this post, you might like these from the ALLi archive:
I have been working on my first book for the last 8 months. I’ve learned a lot about writing skills, publishing, creating personal brands, and more. As I’m also thinking about creating a website, I’ll keep these tips in mind to make my website look more professional.
having an author website is amazing for authors because it opened so many opportunities. I would prefer you to make a starter website and use chatbot to promote your website. Moreover, you can add your book banner in the hero section and so on.
I will Consider using this information to help avoid issues and get my upcoming publish reach more readers..
If you plan to self-publish your book, there are a few helpful tips and bits of information to make the process easier and more effective.
Consider using this information to help avoid issues and get your book to the readers you want to connect with when you finally publish it and take steps to self-promote without wasting time or energy.
If you plan to self-publish your book, there are a few helpful tips and bits of information to make the process easier and more effective.
Consider using this information to help avoid issues and get your book to the readers you want to connect with when you finally publish it and take steps to self-promote without wasting time or energy.
When I have a look at an author’s website then I am there to get their book. I really do not care about their life. Honest. Why would I? Or their digital bilge on social media. It would only turn me into a troll. Self importance is all social media is. Blown out of proportion totally. Admitted to at times. Unless they are academics. Then their university, their discipline, their intellectual interests do matter. And guess what? I have written to a few, maybe three writers of international callibre and at their site as well and gosh guess what: zilch. Says it all.
I have been a self-published author of western frontier eBooks for 9 years. I am constantly evolving, polishing looking at other author websites in the hope of making my website more attractive, professional, access and info friendly. I have already done most of the tips in this article yet $$$$, a sign of being a successful author has eluded me. Being a disabled veteran author finances are stretched. I paid a high price NOT reading my eBooks after they were written and placed on Amazon. Since then, the grammar has been fixed but it has been a snails pace to see success or sales come my way. I can look back but only go forward with each book I write. Thank you for this very informative article for authors.