A stale, stagnant author website is sure to leave your visitors with a bad taste in their mouths and a poor opinion of you and your writing. Instead of seeing you as an interesting author who understands how to interact with his or her readers, you’ll seem more like someone who’s out of touch and ho-hum. To maintain the respect and appreciation of your followers and fans, it’s imperative that you freshen up your website regularly with different fonts, tasteful new features, and eye-catching images. Not only will these updates help you maintain a strong web presence; most search engines favor websites that regularly fine-tune their pages. So if your website is updated often, it will be more likely to appear higher in a search.
The Benefits of a Well-Maintained Author Website
Visitors will keep coming back for more. A user-friendly, visually appealing author website will help attract a wider audience and encourage repeat visits so you can network more effectively. And a strong base of loyal followers will increase your competitive advantage when you’re ready to find an agent or attract the attention of an editor. Websites with low-quality graphics, broken links, and outdated design elements will look abandoned and not worthy of a visitor’s time. Viewers crave new material and regular updates—be sure to give them exactly what they’re looking for.
Search engines will seek you out. Google favors websites that are mobile-user friendly. Revamping your website so that it works with the latest technology and features the latest bells and whistles will help your site hit the sweet spot in search engine algorithms.
Your reputation will be enhanced. Your author website is your face on the Web: It creates and showcases your author brand. By keeping the appearance of your website fresh and the information you feature current, you’ll effectively demonstrate that you are committed to your fans and to your work. Agents and editors are more likely to work with a writer who shows commitment to promoting his or her work.
Better networking opportunities will open up. Making connections through links and guest blogs will expand your network of professional contacts, increase the number of page views you receive, and put you higher in search engine results. The result: More traffic will be driven to your website.
By keeping your author website information up to date and the design elements crisp and appealing, you can ensure that visitors will be eagerly sharing your URL with friends, family, and colleagues—and coming back for seconds, thirds, and more!
QUESTION: What is your biggest pet peeve about websites that aren’t updated?
I absolutely agree. My main problem is having the know how to achieve this admirable goal! However, nil desperandum. And thank you for this helpful post.