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You know you need an author website to raise your profile, connect with your readers, and ultimately, get more book sales. But you’re an author, not a website designer — how are you meant to create a website that both looks professional and encourages readers to buy your books?
Luckily, even though I’m also not a website designer, I’ve had a lot of experience building websites, and it’s really not as hard as you might think.
Consider what you will use your website for, both now and in the future. At the moment, I imagine you’re planning something quite simple for your first foray into website building, but when you have more books or book series to tell your readers about, you’ll probably want to expand it.
As well as telling readers where they can buy your books, you can also use your website to:
Collect email subscribers
Sell your writing-related services
Sell your books direct to your readers
Write a blog
Think about these things now, and you’ll choose the right website platform, which has the features and functionality you need.
When doing your research into website platforms, you might be tempted to go with whatever’s cheapest; however, cheapest isn’t always best, and a low price might also come with low levels of functionality or customer support. As as well as price, consider:
Ease of use
Ease of customisation
Type and amount of customer support
Choice of themes or templates
In-built security features
Ease of integration with other services.
There are many different website platforms, and you’ll find lots of opinions on which is “best.” The important thing to remember is choose what’s best for you.
My personal suggestions are either Squarespace, Wix, or WordPress.
Squarespace and Wix are both website platforms that provide hosting and templates, and you simply sign up, choose a template, and get started.
They feature drag-and-drop, what-you-see-is-what-you-get editors, which makes designing and customising your website super easy, they have the option of connecting your own domain name, and they come with the ability to add a blog, integrate a mailing list, and upgrade to an ecommerce plan.
Choosing between them will come down to your personal preference of the available templates, included features, and which one you find easiest to use.
A free trial period is available for both, so I’d suggest signing up and giving them both a test run.
WordPress is different, because it’s a content management system not a complete website building platform. To get started you’ll need to purchase website hosting (I suggest Siteground), connect your domain name, and install WordPress on your chosen website host. This is actually a lot easier than it sounds; lots of hosts have one-click installs for WordPress because it’s so popular.
WordPress has the steepest learning curve of the three options I’ve shared here, but it also has the widest scope for customisation. You can do whatever you want with a WordPress site. There are thousands of themes to choose from, both free and premium, and plugins are available to add any feature or integration you could possibly think of.
If you enjoy learning new tech or have a very specific idea of what you want your website to do or look like, I’d suggest trying WordPress. However, if you want an option that leans towards “easy to use,” I’d suggest going with Squarepace or Wix.
Your domain name is your unique website name, the bit that comes after “www.”
Some website services give you a free domain when you sign up, but it will have their name in it; e.g., when using Wix, their free urls use the format accountname.wixsite.com/siteaddress. It’s far more professional to have your own unique domain, and you can set up a personalised email that uses your domain as well. A .com domain will cost around £17 per year to register.
You can purchase your domain name from a registrar such as GoDaddy or Namecheap, or, normally, through your website provider or host. Some designers recommend keeping your domain name purchase separate, as it can make it easier if you want to move to a different website platform or host in the future.
It’s likely your domain name will be your name or your pen name. There are many different extensions available (e.g., .co.uk, .online, or .info), but I recommend getting a .com extension if possible, because that’s still the most common one that people look for. If your first choice of domain name isn’t available as a .com, you might need to add “books” or “author” or something similar.
When you’ve decided on a platform and a domain name, it’s time to actually set up your website.
To start your author website on WordPress, you’ll need to install WordPress on Siteground (or your host of choice) then choose and install a theme. When your theme is installed, you can begin adding pages and customising your site.
To get set up on Squarespace or Wix, simply head to the site you’ve chosen to use, hit the Get Started button, and follow the instructions to choose a template.
I suggest adding content before worrying about the design assets like fonts and colours because it's often difficult to imagine what your finished website will look like when it doesn't have any content on it.
If you’ve chosen a one-page template, all your information will be included in the different sections of your home page, but if you have a multi-page site, I suggest adding the minimum of the following pages:
This is the front page of your website. Consider the reader journey when you design your home page. Think about where your readers might have come from. What is the next step you want them to take? If you want them to head to Amazon to buy your books, make sure your book links are prominent. If you want them to sign up to your email list, make sure your sign up link is one of the first things they see. Or maybe you want them to take their time on your site and read your blog to learn about you and your books.
This is your chance to tell your author story and connect on a more personal level with your readers. Tell your readers why you started writing, share your love of a genre they obviously love too, and share some fun facts to help them relate to you as a real person.
Create a page that clearly tells readers your preferred contact methods, and add a contact form or integrate apps such as Messenger or WhatsApp to make it really easy for them to get in touch. Engaging with your readers is a great way to turn them into true fans.
Show off those books! Share your book portfolio with beautiful cover photos, and include the blurbs to get your readers excited to buy. If you don’t sell direct from your website, add a link to Amazon (or other stores you sell from) to make it really easy for them to buy. Encourage read-through by clearly showing which books are from the same series, and if you have interlinking series, include a recommended reading order to show how they connect.
Email remains the most effective way to stay in direct contact with your readers, so growing your email list should be a priority. Create a dedicated page where readers can sign up and link directly to it instead of relying on your readers to look for it.
You might also want to add:
A reviews page
A free bonuses page
A blog
A shop.
There are certain pages your website is required to have by law. These vary by country but often depend on where your site visitors are coming from, not where your author business is based. These include a privacy policy and cookie consent notice, and you’ll probably need to comply with GDPR and CalOPPA legislation. You might also want to include a copyright notice, disclaimer, and terms and conditions, and if you have an online store you need to ensure your site is fully secure with https.
When writing your static pages, remember your content should be on your site for a reason, whether to promote your books, encourage your readers to join your email list, or help them get to know you better.
Keep usability and readability at the forefront of your mind:
Use clear titles on your site menu so your readers can easily find what they’re looking for.
Use a font that’s easy on the eye, break up long blocks of text into short paragraphs, and use headings and lists to summarise important points.
Edit your content for spelling and grammar as well as general things like ease of reading and sentence flow. People will forgive the odd typo, but if your content is full of glaring errors, it looks like you can’t be bothered. And gives a bad indication of the quality of your writing!
You may have heard of branding, but what exactly is it? And why do you need to know about it as an author?
Your brand is the image you present to your readers. Everything about your website, your social media, your interactions with your readers, your books, your book covers — everything all adds up to create an “image” of your business.
When you actively choose your brand's story and how you tell that story, you put yourself in control of the public face of your author business.
So how does a strategically designed brand help you sell more books?
A well-designed brand will attract readers who want to read the type of books you write.
It makes you and your books instantly recognisable in a crowded online marketplace.
Readers know what to expect from you and your books.
You build trust through repeated experiences.
It’s easy for your readers to recommend you to their friends who they know will love your books.
Have a think about what you want your author brand to say to your readers and which colours, fonts, image style, and content will communicate that. A good place to get inspiration from is your book covers. Your covers are designed to communicate your novels’ genre to your readers, so use similar imagery, fonts, and colours on your website to do the same to immediately tell your readers what sort of books you write.
Now we come to the fun stuff! You get to customise your website to make it yours.
My top two website design tips, and the two things I always keep in mind when building sites myself, are:
Keep it simple
Keep it consistent.
Simple website design makes your site easy to read and avoids putting your readers off with clashing colours and too much busyness.
Use a maximum of two fonts on your website (not including any you use in your logo) and two main brand colours plus an accent colour. You might want to pick a lighter and darker version of your main brand colours, but keep them complementary. Your accent colour is used to draw attention to important text, links, or buttons, so use a brighter colour or a contrasting colour to your main brand colours.
Pick a style for your imagery, whether photographs, illustrations, or line art, and stick to it throughout your site. Images have a huge impact on site design, especially if your site is image heavy, so they need to be high quality, and you must have permission to use them on a commercial website.
Consistency strengthens your branding, avoids reader confusion, makes your site look clean and professional, and makes life easier for you!
Decide how you will use your fonts, colours, images, and other assets and stay consistent throughout your site. Keep a simple style sheet to record things such as what font you’ll use for headings and what colours your links and buttons will be. Every time you make a design decision, add it to your style sheet to save you time in the future.
If you’re lacking design ideas or inspiration, look at other authors in your niche. Don’t just copy what they’re doing, though; you need to add some of your own individuality to your website. For attractive colour and font combinations, have a look at brand boards and website designs on Pinterest.
For your website to really work for you, promote it. Add it to your social media platforms and the back of your books, especially ebooks, where you can add a direct link.
Whenever you’re promoting your books, ask yourself if promoting your website would be more effective. If you’re speaking to new readers, it might be easier to get them to visit your website to discover more than buy a book from an unknown author.
Add a link to your website in your social media profiles. Different platforms have different spaces where you can add links, but make sure you link to your website in all the places you can.
Mention your website regularly in your posts, videos, reels, etc. Social media moves fast, and not all your readers will see all your posts. Don’t be scared to repeat yourself.
Ask your current audience (on social media or already on your email list) to share your website with their friends and fellow readers.
If you have a reader group on Facebook, share your website within your group, especially when you’ve added new content your readers will be interested in.
Add a link to your website in all your ebooks. You can add it at the front, but the back is more effective, as those who have got to the end obviously enjoyed your story and are more likely to be excited to find out more about you and your books.
Link to specific pages, both in your books and on social media. Link to your books page if you want your readers to learn more about your books or to your subscriber signup page if your goal is growing your email list. Make it super simple for your readers to go where you want them to.
Give your readers a compelling reason to visit your website. Don’t just share the link and nothing else. Ask them to visit and tell them how it will benefit them. Get them excited to learn more about your new release, get a bonus only available from your site, or get some insider insights into their favourite books.
Add a link to, or mention, your website at every available opportunity! Add it to your author email signature, ask if you can include it in your bio in any press mentions, if you’re involved in cross-promotion with other authors, ask if you can promote your website as well as your books, and make sure it’s clearly printed on your promotional material when you go to in-person author events.
Your email list is the best way of connecting with, and ultimately selling to, your readers who are really into your books. And your website is the perfect platform to use to grow your list.
If you haven't already, you need to sign up to an email service provider that will collect, organise, and email your subscribers. Mailerlite is popular because it offers a free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers, or for an email service created especially for authors, have a look at Author.Email.
A very effective way to get new subscribers is to give away a freebie in exchange for them signing up. This could be a free novella, the first book in a popular series, or bonus epilogues or scenes for current books. Before attempting to grow your list, have a think about whether you're going to give away a freebie, what you might give away, and how you'll get it to new signups.
Create a landing page on your website to encourage readers to sign up to your email list. This page should have nothing on it except for the signup form and why your readers will love your free offer. The goal is to get them to do one thing and one thing only, so don't distract them with anything else.
Link to this landing page on your social media, in the back of your books, and anywhere else you have the opportunity to encourage readers to join your email list.
Don't just rely on this landing page, though. Your readers will arrive on other pages of your site, so add your signup forms in a variety of places:
On your home page, as close to the top as possible.
In your footer. Readers who have got this far have demonstrated they're really interested in what you have to say!
On your books page, especially if your freebie relates to a current series.
Within your blog posts.
On your about page.
Just as when you're promoting your website, remember to give your readers a good reason to join your email list and ask them to do it. Don't just drop the form or landing page link and expect your readers to do what you want them to.
Now you have a clear idea of how to create your own author website, and even some ideas on how to spread the word when it’s finished, hopefully the prospect doesn’t seem nearly as overwhelming.
There is a lot of information in this post, but the main things to remember are:
Have clear goals for your website to help you make effective design and content decisions.
Keep your design simple and consistent.
Promote your website everywhere you can.
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