Author’s Website –
An Author’s Website is Essential:
If you are an Author and you want people to read your work, you must have an Author’s Website; and if you have an Author’s Website, you need to let people know about it. Help them find it, so that they can discover you, the writer.
If you are a self published author, this is even more critical.
An author’s website is a platform for all of your writing. Whether you write novels, non-fiction, poetry, short stories, blog articles or all of the above, you need somewhere to get your writing out there, to gather an audience.
Social Media is fine, however it’s not the place to display and categorise all of your work, although Google+ and Pinterest are fairly good at this. However, primarily, Social Media should be a platform to draw fans to your website. Tease them with snippets on Facebook etc. to encourage them to get to know you and your works on your website.
A Free Author’s Website?
Now, there are many platforms on the net which give you the opportunity to build your own website for free, Wix is probably the best. Just Google “Free Websites” and you will be swamped. Most of them allow you to play around and create a basic website, however, you have to build it. If you are not technically minded or inclined, it is a bit of a chore, and when you have your basic website you will be offered other services such as Hosting, SEO, eCommerce, Search Engine Marketing etc.
These are all legitimate essentials for your web presence, because if people can’t find you on the web, you may as well not have a website. So, “Free” websites end up costing you anyway, if you want them to do what they are supposed to do. However, if you’re not particularly interested in the marketing side of publishing your work, you need some help.
I recommend investing in a WordPress website, Google and other search engines love WordPress. It is set up in such a way, that it makes it easy for the Google algorithms to crawl through your content and make a decision to rank you highly on a search and, even if you are not particularly “Tech”, it is reasonably easy to learn to perform minor tasks yourself, such as adding content and images. You can set up a WordPress site yourself, however it does take a bit of technical nous, and it will, like any other website, require hosting and constant updating of, not only content, but security and database cleansing. And then there is still the issue of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Which is essential and ongoing, if you want people to find your work.
Let Me Look After Your Digital Marketing
My advise is to find someone who can set all of this up for you and maintain the parts that you can’t or don’t want to maintain. After all you are a writer not a digital marketer. Lucky for you, I am passionate about both and can set you up within a budget. This is an investment in your business of writing and publishing, and you may be surprised at how little the basics can cost.
Visit the following websites for my credentials, I constructed and maintain both, as well as look after my own social media, but that’s another story.
I have developed another website for Australian Authors. You are invited to register yourself and your books here. And add links for your purchasing platforms, website and social media, IT’S FREE!
If you wish to find out more about options and pricing click here
Thanks for you interest,
Russell.
