Like most authors, we’re sure you would rather spend your precious spare time writing instead of dealing with the technical aspects of maintaining or updating your author website. Fortunately, the team here at Web Design Relief has compiled a list of fast, easy website tweaks that will give you big results with little time and effort.
Big-Impact Ideas For Your Author Website:
1. Make full use of social media widgets.
Adding social media widgets to your author website makes it easy to connect with—and build up—your fan base through Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, etc. For example, there’s a free Facebook widget that gives visitors the option of Liking your Facebook page while still remaining on your author website. Another widget allows website visitors to easily share your author site’s posts on their own Facebook profiles.
Visitors will also look for information on your website footer, so it’s a good idea to include links to your social media profiles at the bottom of every page. In many website management programs, one social media addition to your footer will appear on every page.
2. Decorate your website.
You can decorate your website so it reflects different seasons or holidays. Visitors are drawn to sites that are regularly updated and festive, so consider making simple changes to borders or fonts, as well as using themed language.
3. Update your headshot.
If you’re wearing a baby-blue leisure suit or a beehive hairdo in your author headshot…it may be time to update. Since this is your first chance to make a lasting impression, be sure the image represents your site well. Do you want to seem professional? Creative? Friendly? Having a picture of you that expresses your true personality can help visitors connect with you and your writing.
4. Get rid of advertisements.
Banners, sponsored links, and annoying, flashing pop-ups saying CLICK HERE can wear out your visitors’ patience. Ads are distracting and slow down the loading of content on your site. Some people will simply leave if a site takes too long to load. To make sure your visitors don’t “bounce” (get distracted and leave your site!), remove any advertisements.
5. Fix broken links.
Double-check that the links you provide on your website actually work—you don’t want visitors clicking on links and getting error pages. Either update old, nonfunctioning links or remove them entirely.
6. Remove music that automatically plays on your site.
Nowadays, having Muzak that starts playing the minute someone enters your author website could come off as cheesy and generic. In addition, music can make your pages slow to load, discouraging potential fans from sticking around long enough to read the content on your site. Few people enjoy unsought music when they’re visiting a website, so why take the chance?
These quick little updates and changes will improve your author website and help you gain more visitors and followers. And if your website is in need of a more complete overhaul, there’s an easy answer for that too: call Web Design Relief!
QUESTION: What’s one thing you added to your author website that improved it?
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