It’s the 19th and I’m back, continuing with my tips about things you can do before you get published to make the transition from unpublished to published author less overwhelming. Last month I talked about blurbs. Today I thought I’d talk about something else that’s important: your website.
Some of you may already have a website. I’m not going to argue about whether an unpublished writer needs one. I didn’t have one, but that’s up to you. But most people agree that you do need a website once you’re published. It is arguably your most important marketing tool. Plus you need it to look professional, evocative of your writing brand, and successful.
Even though I had already taken two online courses about websites before I sold my first book, I still spent the entire summer after I sold getting it designed. It was an incredibly time consuming process. So here’s what I suggest you do now (things I wish I’d done) to save yourself some time:
1. Get your domain name reserved. If you haven’t decided on what name you’ll write under, do it now. Then go to Go Daddy or one of the other domain registration sites and get your name reserved. It’s very cheap and easy. That way you won’t have to worry that someone else has taken your name when you want to start up your website. Don’t wait. Do it today!
2. Start looking at authors’ websites and decide what you want on yours:
- * How many pages will you have? What will you call them?
- * Do you want the navigation buttons (the links to the pages) on the top of the main page or the side?
- * What colors will you use? What fonts? Your website is part of your author branding. How do you want the public to see you?
- * What is the overall mood you want your website to evoke? Whimsical? Suspenseful? Romantic? Humorous? The mood should reflect you and your books. Be aware that this might change as your writing evolves. When I first had my website designed, I was writing for both Silhouette Special Edition and Intimate Moments. I wanted an emotional, intense, but friendly look to my site. Now I’m writing primarily romantic suspense — still emotional and intense, but edgier. It may be time for me to make some changes to my website so that it better reflects what I write.
- * Do you want photos on your main page? If so, start looking at free stock photos to find what you need.
- * Are you going to have animation (videos, etc.)? Animation looks cool, but if your readers are on dial-up, they might never go to your site because it takes too long to view.
- * Are you going to design your own website? If not, find websites you really like, then check to see who designed them. The designer will be listed on the site somewhere. Check their portfolios and prices. Prices vary enormously — from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Check around. And some designers have waiting lists, so the sooner you know who you want to hire, the better.
- * Who will maintain your website? There is nothing sadder than an out of date website — or worse for sales. Can you do your own monthly updates? If not, you need to find someone who can — reliably. Your teenage son might have the skill and come at the right price (free), but do you really want to work your updates around his sports schedule or nag him endlessly to do it?
3. What will bring people to your website? Okay, your book. But if you are a new author, hardly anyone is going to know about your book. So how will you drive traffic to your site? One way is to belong to an online community. For a monthly fee, they advertise your contest, announce your awards, do your updates, send out your newsletter, post your book cover, etc. There are lots of communities out there, such as Novel Talk or Access Romance. Check them out, compare prices, decide if you want to go that route or not. They offer a slew of services, so you need to start thinking about what you need.
4. What will bring people back to your website once they’ve found it? Will you have games? Run a contest? If so, what will you offer as prizes? There are pros and cons to contests, so it deserves some thought. What else can you put on your website to make people come back? Articles you’ve written? Links to other sites? A blog?
5. What happens if you go a long time between sales? How will you make yourself still look busy and successful? What content can you add to enhance your professional image?
Creating a website takes a lot of work. It’s fun, but time consuming. And even after you’ve designed it, you need to keep it updated, add content, work on drawing readers to it, create the impression of success.
But the good news is that once you design your website, you can use the same design for your newletter, My Space page, business cards, and so on.
And remember - no matter what you do, look professional. If you can design and maintain your own website, fabulous. You will save a lot of money. But make sure you are projecting the professional image you want editors, agents, and readers to see.
Bottom line: start now. Do the legwork now before you need to launch your website. You’ll be so glad you did.
I hope this helps. I’ll be out of town when this posts, so if you’ve got questions, I’ll answer later this month.
gail
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