Creating an Author Website

Originally Posted April 19, 2020 by Joe K.

Last Updated February 08, 2023

Why Author Builder

The goal of Author Builder is to provide everything authors need to create and maintain their website in one location. Author Builder aims to simplify Steps 1 through 5 below, letting you get back to writing ASAP! You don't have to spend hours trying to create an author website design that is easy to navigate and visually appealing.

Step 1: Choose a platform/service

There are a lot of choices out there. The prices can vary from a few dollars per month to several thousand for a fully customized website.

Some popular choices:

WordPress.com
Bluehost + Wordpress (self-hosted)
Squarespace.com
Hire someone to create a Wordpress site

Step 2: Start customizing (themes)

If you chose a WordPress option then you'll need to start sifting through a LOT of options. There are so many themes, it will take a while to choose the one you like. There are also a lot of paid theme options that will look better and be more optimized in general. Remember, you aren't locked into your chosen theme, you can always change this in the future. Your site content should reposition automatically when the theme is changed.

Squarespace has many templates to choose from as well. Like WordPress themes, you can change your Squarespace template at any time, and your content should reposition automatically.

I highly recommend looking at tutorials to help you make something that looks decent. Once you get the overall design of your website picked out, it will be a lot easier to add new books and write blog posts.

Author Builder's theme is specifically designed to showcase your books, blog posts, and everything else an author will need. Additional themes will be created in the future.

Step 3: Is your choice working?

By now you should have a basic idea of what your options are, and hopefully what they look like. Whether you chose a popular website with a theme, or you're looking to hire someone for a custom solution, always check out the example sites. If the example sites feel clunky to you, they will feel clunky to your visitors as well.

Here are some specific questions to ask yourself when looking at themes/site examples:

Is the example site slow and laggy?
Do the images look blurry, stretched, or just bad?
How does it look on your computer AND phone?
Are there annoying pop-ups (all pop-ups are annoying, don't kid yourself)?
Can you navigate the website easily?
Is the focus your content (it better be)?

If you have difficulty answering the above questions, have a friend or family member give you their feedback. You could watch over their shoulder as they navigate the example website, or your website if you've gotten that far.

Author Builder strives to provide an amazing experience on all platforms, check out example.authorbuilder.com to see our example site!

Step 4: Subscriptions!

One of the many goals on your website is to gain subscribers. MailChimp, SendGrid, Omnisend, and many other email services exist. You will either be charged for number of emails sent, or by a subscriber count. For instance, 500 subscribers might cost $10 per month, while 5000 subscribers will cost you $50 per month. The costs and services provided vary significantly, and change often.

The most basic subscription/email needs should be:

GDPR compliance
Option for visitors to subscribe
Option for visitors to unsubscribe (and resubscribe if they made a mistake)
Send emails for new blog posts (if you blog)
Send emails for new books
Send newsletters
Send transactional emails (successful subscription)

More advanced options include:

Use of DMARC, DKIM, SPF, and BIMI to ensure maximum deliverability
Marketing campaigns
Raffles/contests
Offering something free (ebooks) in exchange for a subscription

Author Builder handles GDPR compliance, subscribe/unsubscribe, new blog post notifications, new book notifications, newsletters, transactional emails, and uses DMARC, DKIM, SPF, and BIMI. Soon we'll include everything mentioned in the above section!

Step 5: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Some websites will automatically provide SEO options. Others will require a plugin, such as Yoast for WordPress. You need to have at least basic SEO to have your website be discoverable on google, bing, and other search engines. Optimally, you want your website to tell search engines every time you write a new blog post or publish a new book on your website.

Author Builder automatically updates popular search engines daily, helping increase traffic to your website.

Step 6: Custom Domain Name

Here are some general tips on selecting a domain name:

Use your name, your pen name/nom de plume, or your LLC if you're self publishing

This is very common, mainly because your name is the most common words associated with your books. If all the name options you're looking at are taken, try adding "author", "books", or some other writing-related descriptor at the end (e.g. mynamebooks.com).

Do not use the name of your book/series

If you ever plan to branch into other series or books, this makes it feel very limited. You could always change it later, but then you'll need to set up "301 redirects" from your old website name, otherwise, any link to your old website will be broken.

Don't use hyphens or numbers

Hyphens and numbers in a domain name is confusing. There may be several people named Joe Noname that have websites, and if yours is too similar it could be confusing. E.g. joenoname.com, joe-noname.com, joe-noname-books.com

Try to use a ".com" address

This isn't a must, but it will help. The most commonly used generic top-level domains (fun name, right?) is ".com". Many people will assume an address is a .com, so any word-of-mouth could result in someone ending up at the wrong website.

Author Builder will supports custom domains. You will need to purchase a domain on another website (typically ~$12 per year), and then link it with Author Builder.

Step 7: Focus on what you enjoy!

You're likely here because you're an author, or at least a writer of some kind. No matter what website platform or service you choose, focus on your writing! Please, don't spend hours a day maintaining a website, unless you enjoy it as a hobby, or it's your job.