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what should an author website include
Speak to any author who has published a book and they will all say that one of their biggest mistakes was not starting to build their first time author websites and their audience as sooner.
How soon? As soon they settled on the title of their book.
Got a title?
Purchase a domain name with the title of your book so you can build a one-page website.
What should your one-page website include?
- The title of your book
- A brief description of what your book is about
- A link to join your email list
What to say on your one-page website?
Start off by saying, “I’ve just started writing this book, but this is what I’m thinking about at the moment…”
People love to be a part of the creative process. That’s why it’s important to capture their name and email address ASAP so you stay in touch with your followers throughout your book writing journey, and when you’re ready to sell your book.
Next UP
When you want to bring more attention to your book, and reach out for podcast guest opportunities, it’s time for a four page website:
- HOME PAGE
- AUTHOR BIO (or ABOUT)
- YOUR BOOK’S PAGE
- CONTACT
And add:
- Your current headshot
- 3-D book cover image (if available)
- Privacy Policy
Where to Add Your List Building Free Offer
The benefit of having a website is being able to grow your email list for free, and to engage with your followers.
The best place to add a link to your free offer is in your navigation menu because it appears on every page which increases your changes of getting more sign ups.
Example of a link to a list building free offer in a navigation menu Home…But Not For Long
One page websites are effective for a while, but when you want to increase your online visibility you will need multiple pages. Here’s why…
As visitors click off of one page of your website, and onto another, robots begin to follow your visitor’s ‘behavior.’ [For example, a visitor lands on your HOME page, and then clicks on your ABOUT page, or BOOK’S page.] The longer they stay on your site, and the more pages they visit, the better your changes of ranking higher in the search results.
A one page website will not lead them to where the robots will follow.
About Them Page
During one of my live author website design reviews, people said they wanted to know more about my client because, “…the price of the book is minimal, but my free time is limited. If I feel a connection with the author I will spend time reading their book.”
People want to know about you, why you decided to write your book, and anything that makes you relatable to them.
For example, in my ABOUT page I wrote about growing up with a relative who was blind, and also my love of ballroom dancing. It’s not only a great conversation starter, people begin to share things about themselves, which creates a connection that can last a lifetime.
Email Address on Your Website? Not a Good Idea
Do not add a direct link to your email address anywhere on your website because robots scrap the internet to ‘sell’ email addresses to SPAMMERS.
If you want people to email you, send them to a contact form instead.
One of my customers insisted I put her email address on every page of her website. Within a few months she was begging me to remove it because her email inbox was receiving over 1,000 emails per day, from companies she didn’t know. This cost her over an hour of her time, each day, removing unwanted emails. Time she could have spent working for her clients, and getting paid.
Why Add a Contact Form on Your Contact Page
- A Contact Form allows visitors to give you their name and email address
- You can add pre-qualifying questions
- Ask them to tell you what they are most interested in with regard to your book topic
- Contact Forms cut down on spam bots stealing your email address and filling up your email inbox with hundreds of unwanted messages.
Example of a contact form with questions Are You Active on Social Media?
If you want people to join your Facebook community, find you on LinkedIn, or other social media platforms, you can easily add your social media links on all your pages simply by adding them to your website head or footer.
Some of my author clients want people to send them a private Facebook message, so I add a link to Messenger.
Example of Social Media links in a website footer Would You Like Your Followers to Phone You?
Questions About Creating an Author Website?
Click here to schedule a free call. I can help you determine if a one-page, or multi-page author website is right for you.
The post what should an author website include appeared first on Building An Author Website.
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Author Landing page Examples
What is a Landing Page?
A Landing Page is a one-page website without:
- A navigation menu
- A footer
- Links to your social media pages
- Any links that would take them off the page except to join your list or buy your book.
Why omit the navigation and links to social media?
You do not want your visitor to get distracted by any other elements on the page.
The purpose of a landing page is for your visitor to take one action, or leave the page.
What is an Author Landing Page?
An Author Landing Page is a highly focused web page that asks your website visitor to:
- Sign up for more information (aka join your email list)
or - Buy your book
Example of a book launch landing page Are Landing Pages Part of Your Website?
Landing Pages can be part of a website. They can also be a stand alone one-page website.
Can a Landing Page be a Home Page?
Yes. A Landing Page can be a Home page.
The problem is one-page websites do not rank well because there is not enough relevant content to attract search engine robots so your site.
Is the Landing Page the Home Page?
A Landing Page can be the Home page, but it does have to be.
What are Landing Pages Used For?
Example of a Landing Page inviting people to a website design review of an author website Landing pages are used for different reasons, but all Landing Pages ask your visitor to take one action such as:
- Sign up for a free offer in exchange for their email address
- Sign up for a newsletter in exchange for their email address
- Sign up for a webinar (free or paid)
- Sign up for a workshop (free or paid)
- Sign up for a membership (free or paid)
- Purchase your book
Why are Landing Pages Important?
Landing Pages are important because they are often the first point of contact between you and your website visitors.
They are also important because the content on a Landing Page is highly focused. By seeing how many people ‘land’ on your page, and what percentage take action, you will know if you message is working.
Landing Page for a Book
A Landing Page for a book asks people to:
- Be placed on a waiting list
- Pre-order your book
- Order your book
Where To Find Landing Page Templates?
Type in, Landing Page Templates, into your favorite search engine (i.e. Google, Safari, Bing). You will find dozens (hundreds) of Landing Page options.
To keep things simple, I design landing pages inside my WordPress theme.
I have also used Landing Page templates provided by my email host, AWeber, and then linked them to my WordPress website.
Source: https://fieldsgraphicdesign.com/websites/authors/landing-page
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Author Website Examples
This is not another random list of the best websites for authors. This is what I use for authors who want to sell more books and attract more speaking opportunities.
- For authors who want to grow their fan base
- Active on social? Your social media links are always visible when visitors scroll down any page on your website
- Home page images are perfectly sized for book covers
- Simple and elegant
- Large image at top can be used to highlight author or 3-D book cover
- E-commerce ready for authors who want to sell their books on their website
- Ideal for authors who are currently writing their book
- Grow and engage your email list while you write your book
- Social Proof to enhance your personal brand
- Great for a book launch
- Bold and confident theme is a good choice for books on business
- Encourages visitors to take action now
- Visually simple yet powerful
- Lots of white space
- Great for authors who are ready to launch their book and have visitors BUY NOW
- For authors who want high engagement
- Clear Call-To-Action encourages visitors to sign up for your free offer
- Easy to feature multiple books on the home page
- Soft Sell approach throughout
- Curved lines and warm colors
- Events Calendar lets visitors know about upcoming speaking engagements and book signing opportunities
- Highlights the author or 3-D book cover at the top of the site
- Strong CTA (Call-to-action) button to Join the Newsletter under hero image
- Engaging Testimonials section
When is the best time to start your author website?
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The primary goal of your website is to introduce yourself to potential book buyers.
That can be intimidating for many authors to promote themselves, especially when they wrote a book to help change lives. But unless people know about you and your book, you will not accomplish your main goal.
Whether you choose to self-publish, or search for a publisher, your author website should be professional, user-friendly, easy for site visitors to buy your book, and easy to build your list of followers.
If you are featured on podcasts, it should contain links to all your guest appearances, too.
Some authors also offer courses. A website that sells directly on your site is called an e-commerce website. E-commerce sites can get complicated, but selling a book through a third party such as Amazon, is as simple as adding a link to your book on your Amazon sales page.
Why WordPress is best for Author Websites
I design all my author websites in WordPress because WordPress lets me build a site that search engines love.
Other platform like Square and WIX build beautiful sites for humans, but they don’t have the flexibility in the back end to structure a site that gets you found online.
If you are going to spend time, effort and money on a website that promotes your book, a WordPress website with a good infrastructure will outrank any other website platform.
What to look for when choosing a WordPress Theme
There are thousands of themes to choose from, but when you know what to look for it’s easy to narrow down your search.
When choosing a WordPress website theme for my authors, I look for themes that can accommodate the following:
- Button in the navigation menu that links to a list building free offer
- Author photo, 3-D image of a book cover and a link to buy the book at the top of the website
- Buy button above testimonial
- Short Author bio
- Book summary
- Relevant articles
- Footer with link to list building free offer
Famous Author Websites
Search for “best author website examples” online and a list of famous author websites will come up.
What all famous author websites have in common:
- The name of their website is their author name
- Their homepage has a 3-D image of their latest book
- They have a newsletter opt-in form asking for your email address
Many, but not all of these authors have a head shot with a 50-75 word bio on their Home page that links to a longer bio on their About page, and their Media page.
They are also listed on Wikipedia.
Advantage of being listed on Wikipedia
Authors who are listed on Wikipedia are recognized as noteworthy authorities.
Wikipedia has specific criteria for notability such as:
- Publishing multiple books
- Positive book reviews in major newspapers or magazines
- Literary Awards or Recognitions
If you have multiple books, or a best seller, a listing on Wikipedia will enhance your image as a leading author.
Unpublished Author Websites
But what if you are not a famous author…yet?
What if you are just writing your first book?
What should your unpublished author website contain?
- Your author name as the domain name
- An opt-in form asking for your visitors’ email address
- A headshot and a short bio
When is the best time to start building an
author website?(function(d, s, id) {
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What if you plan to sell your book on Amazon? What should your website homepage contain?
- Your author name as your domain name
- A 3-D image of your book cover with a link to your Amazon sales page
NOTE: If you book is not yet available for purchase, include a 3-D image of your book cover with a Coming Soon link to on your Amazon sales page - An opt-in form asking visitors’ for their email address
- A headshot and a short bio
Why do authors need a headshot and a short bio?
A book is not a big financial purchase but it is a time commitment. People want to know about you before buying your book.
Do you need to publish a newsletter, too?
No, but you need to build a list of prospective buyers.
A newsletter is a natural fit for authors who want to bring people into their world and stay engaged in a non-sales-y way.
Many authors choose to write a newsletter because it is an easy way to keep your followers up to date on your latest writing project, and share things that matter to you.
People enjoy feeling part of the creative process. By sharing glimpses of your latest writing project, you will begin to develop a fan base of people who are anxious to buy your book the day it is released.
Ready to start your author website, but don’t know where to start?
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if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
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js.src = “//forms.aweber.com/form/05/361540005.js”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, “script”, “aweber-wjs-wtmes7zcg”));Source: https://fieldsgraphicdesign.com/websites/authors/examples
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Author Website Design
An author website builds your online presence, your brand, your authority, and promotes you as a writer. A well-designed author website will rank you at the top of search engine results. It’s called brand authority, and brand authority is what every author should be aiming to achieve. What Does a Well Designed Author Website Contain? […]
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Author Website Examples
Best Websites for Authors This is not another list of the best websites for authors. This is what I use to build websites for my clients who want to sell their books. Author Website Design The primary goal of your website is to introduce yourself to potential book buyers. That can be intimidating for many […]
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Open Graph Image Examples
I often get requests from my website customers that increase my knowledge and expertise. This week one of those requests came from Betty Ann Dean, owner of Vibrant Bodyworks. Betty Ann uses Facebook Messenger to communicate with many of her customers. The problem was, whenever she replied to someone in Messenger this image popped up. Facebook […]
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How To Choose a Good Website Template
She was a lovely client who had a passion for her message. She fell head-over-heels in love with one website template. Her ‘old’ website design seemed more appropriate for her message, but she convinced herself, and me, that the new website template was perfect. 10 days and 50+ hours of work later, we met for […]
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Nancy Fields Graphic Design
personalized profitable websites for authors who want more authority online
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