10 Things To Feature On Your Author Website | Web Design Relief

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10 Things To Feature On Your Author Website | Web Design Relief

An author website is the hallmark of any author who is serious about writing. Whether you’re a new writer or a well-published pro, having an author website to act as your information hub will make it easier for readers, agents, editors, and potential new fans to learn more about you and your writing. However, some writers are still reluctant to create a website because they don’t know what type of content it should have. Fortunately, the experts at Web Design Relief know exactly what 10 things you should feature on your author website, and they’ve created this handy list for you!

10 Must-Haves You Should Feature On Your Author Website

Biographical Info: You probably have a brief biography that you use in your query or cover letters, but your author website is where you can share more of your personal story without worrying about the word count. Include details about your interests and hobbies, the inspiration behind your writing, and other facts that will help visitors feel more connected to you. However, protect your personal information and deter hackers by keeping in mind there are some biographical elements you shouldn’t include on your author website—like your home address or your mother’s maiden name.

Publications List: Consolidate all of your publication credits into a list that will act as a convenient, one-stop resource for your audience. Include the publisher or journal’s name, publication date, and a link if the work is available online. Haven’t been published yet? Here’s how to get your first publication credit.

Personal Photos: Images are great page-fillers and eye-catching design elements that will help website visitors relate to the person behind the writing. Think beyond the standard headshot: You can share pictures of your pets, your book collection, and pretty much anything else you want (as long as you own the rights to the photos). Adding captions to your photos will also help fill a web page.

Mixed Media: Video content is a unique element for your web pages that offers an engaging, interactive experience for your website visitors. You can record a video introduction to your website or a reading of some of your work. Voice recordings and podcasts are great additions too!

Pro-tip: We recommend uploading your videos and audio to free sources like YouTube, Vimeo, and SoundCloud and then embedding them on your website. Storing your media on a separate server will prevent annoying lag time when your audience hits “Play.”

Blogs: Your author website is the perfect place to talk about a day in your life, your writing process, upcoming projects, or anything else you want to share with your readers and potential fans. A blog will add interesting content to your author website and keep visitors coming back for more. Here are 40 blog post ideas to help get you started.

Excerpts: Include must-read excerpts from your book and short stories, lines from your poetry, or even full-length work specifically written just for your website or social media. Remember, most editors will consider anything that appears on your website or social media previously published, so don’t put anything on your website that you want to submit for publication in literary journals.

Reviews: Ask your fellow author friends to write a review about your work that you can feature on your website. And be sure to return the favor! Reader reviews of your writing also offer social proof that your work is worth reading.

Book Covers: Featuring your cover art is a must-do for book authors—it can turn your website into a book-selling machine! For poetry and short story writers, you may want to consider featuring the covers of journals or anthologies where your work has been published.

Events Calendar: If you’re frequently speaking at conferences, hosting book launches, reading at your local library or coffee shop—whether in-person or virtually—an events calendar is a must-have. Bonus: Consider adding a mailing list to your website so your alerts about events or new releases can be sent directly into your fans’ e-mail inboxes.

Social Media: The best way to master online networking is to make your social media accounts easily accessible. Add social media links, buttons, or even live widgets to your author website so your audience can follow you in just a few clicks. This type of cross promotion brings active content to your website and engages your visitors on multiple platforms, which will grow your audience.

The more meaningful content you have on your website, the more reasons readers and industry insiders will have to keep visiting. And here’s an important bonus: Having more website content makes you more Googleable, so you’ll be indexed higher on search engines!

If you’re ready to create a successful author website filled with all the essential info your audience wants, schedule a free consultation with Web Design Relief today.

 

Question: What’s the best content you’ve seen on an author website?

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