So often, I recommend that an author write a tagline or attention-grabbing intro sentence for their homepage. This helps visitors get a really good idea of whose site they’re on in about 5 seconds. After all, the author’s name across the top — “John Jones,” for example — could be an accountant, a spiritual consultant … or …
13 Great Attention-Grabbing Lines on Author Websites Read More »
Like it or not, today’s author also has to be a marketer. And what is it that you are marketing? Well, it’s your brand. But what exactly is your author brand? What are your options? What’s going to stick in everyone’s mind after they’ve visited your site? Here are four directions that I’ve seen authors …
Now how’s this for playing with reality? I’m blogging about blogging. But seriously, each week, I have to first come up with an idea for a blog post, and then come up with a good title for that post. I’ve written extensively about the former — ideas for author blog posts. What I haven’t yet …
Nearly every author website has an “About the Author” page. This generally contains the author’s biography so that visitors and fans can learn more about the person behind the book. In the decade plus that I’ve been working in this field, I’ve seen tons of different types of author bio pages. Some are written in the …
Almost every author website has the basics — a book description, excerpt, blog, contact page, about the author, news, etc… But when I’m talking to an author about what we can do with their website, I like to try and think outside the box as well. One of my common recommendations for fiction authors? A …
Creating a Book Secrets Page on Your Author Website Read More »
I stumbled across an absolutely fascinating report today. It was put together by BookBub and includes some interesting details on what they learned doing A/B testing of copy on author websites. For those of you who don’t know, A/B testing refers to dividing site visitors into two random groups, each experiencing the site with one difference. For …
It’s one of the most important questions I ask an author when we first talk about designing their site: “Is your book cover finalized yet? If so, can I see it?” The Relationship Between the Design and the Cover An author’s website should — to some degree — resemble their book cover. If the site …
Designing an Author Website Without a Book Cover Read More »
Every author plans to have a “Buy now” button on their site, which allows visitors to purchase their book with one easy click. But the more complicated question is where that link goes. In other words, should authors simply link out to Amazon/B&N to sell their book? Or, as many authors ask me, “Should I sell …
We build all of our author sites in WordPress. And there are many good reasons for that. One of them is the multitude of plug-ins that WordPress allows you to use — from ones that create photo slideshows to contact forms and more. Here are seven that we install on each and every author website we build. …
7 Must-Have WordPress Plug-ins for Author Websites Read More »
Like it or not, mobile is the wave of the future. As each year goes by, a larger and larger percentage of people surfing the web are doing it on a smartphone. This further enhances the need for every author to have a mobile-friendly design. But, apparently, having a functional mobile version of your author …
Another Reason to Perfect the Mobile Version of Your Author Website Read More »
