Elements of a writers website (handout)

KEY ELEMENTS OF A WRITER’S WEBSITE
Your Digital Business Card

Website: A website informs, it is a marketing tool

A compilation of all your services, books, articles, speaking, events, blog, products,
testimonials, email capture

Blog: A blog engages
Posts about your book, subject matter/niche where you have an opportunity to engage your
audience by asking for comments.

Both offer you opportunity to be found online with correct Search Engine Optimization techniques

Tips for a successful website:
Know your targeted audience before you write your website or blog.

Know the purpose of your site before you spend time and money

Put fresh content on your site frequently, you can generally accomplish this on your blog, but
also on your events page

Know your keywords and be consistent in writing your content for the website and blog, this
will make all the difference in your being found in a Google search

What seems obvious…
• List all your published books with the links to buy those books and digital downloads
on your home page

• Use your site design to focus on the book you most currently want to promote, your
home page is a great place to showcase your most current book

• Readers love to meet authors, highlight your upcoming appearances

• Make your about page personal & media friendly, include a high res photo that media
can download, and bio info easy to replicate

• What do you want visitors to your site to do? Make it obvious

• Your website should reflect your personality, the design should be unique to you and
your work

JoAnne Funch | GIR – Marketing Consulting, Online Web Development, Social Media Management |
www.girpromotions.com | 763.497.1779 | Email: joanne@girpromotions.com Page 1


An Identifying URL: When I say identifying it needs to represent you, preferably you will snag your
own name for a dot com. Your own name.com will probably be your first choice, but you may also
choose the name of your book if this is your first and only book at this time.

Identify the pages of your website: Create a clear map of content you will include on your website.
To include your home page, about you page, book page, speaking page, services, events,
testimonials and contact.

Pictures: Let’s face it people like to identify with you. They desire to see your face, look at your
smile, and connect with you, and then your book isn’t just a physical product but a story from a real
person that they have looked at even if it was only a face on the Internet. People are also more likely
to buy a book if they are able to see it, so be sure to put your book’s cover art on there as well. TIP:
Use high-resolution author photos and book cover images.

Video: Add video of yourself being interviewed about your book, speaking – especially if you have a
speaking career or plan to speak about your book. Video makes you real, shows potential customers
or people who may want to hire you who you are. Video is also great for search engine optimization
(SEO).

A blog: A blog is a perfect way to continue to share your knowledge with your readers as well as to
create credibility and a connection with those coming to your site or hearing about you for the first
time. This will also allow you to connect with your readers by encouraging them to comment and then
interacting with them via the blog.

Testimonials and reviews. The cold hard fact is that people want to see that your book was useful to
and well-liked by others. So, posting testimonials and reviews of your book is a must. People buy
most often based on someone else’s recommendation, so use that to your advantage filling your site
with positive reviews and testimonials.

Contact information: People want to know they can contact you. Even if you can’t respond to the
inquiries personally you will gain credibility by being accessible to your readers. Be sure to include at
least an email address. You may or may not choose to include your personal phone number and
include your agent/publicist contact info.

TIP: Do not overcrowd your pages with too much text, have lots of white space is best.

Bullet point anything where possible because people tend to scan

Calls To Action: Every website should include – what do you want people to do when they come to
your website?

Email Subscription: In exchange for the visitors email, give them something of value such as a
chapter to your book, maybe something fun really fun.

If you have a page selling your book or other products be sure buy buttons are clearly marked
On the bottom of a blog post, tell your reader what you want them to do next



Content is always king: Yours must always include compelling and current information

Who are you? What makes you interesting? Why will people want to read your books?

Why did you write the book?

If you write fiction, can you expand on how you developed your characters? What would the reader
find fun or interesting about that? Can you talk about how the character came to be?

If you write non-fiction there usually is not a problem creating content to substantiate why your wrote
your book, update with facts about your market, additional topics relevant to your topic

Both for fiction and non-fiction you could include stories about your researching your book, who you
interviewed and even include a video interview

Search Engine Optimization Tips

Search engine optimization (SEO) and analytics can ensure your website has what it needs to get to
the next level, and pull in the visitors you want: readers, editors, publishers and agents.

Know your key words! What makes for relevant keywords for writers? Depends on what you do. For
fiction, relevant keywords could be your name, book titles, even character names. For non-fiction,
subjects you’ve written about or your market niche will most likely be the terms a person surfing the
Web will use.

If you don’t want to learn SEO, best to hire it out.

If you have a Word Press site, add this plugin:
Here's the authorsure plugin info to authenticate with Google in Wordpress

http://www.authorsure.com/

7 Step Checklist

1. Get your Gravatar (your professional image photo that follows you to all sites on the internet) if you don’t already
have one go to: www.gravatar.com complete the profile information completely
2. Get an account at Google (Gmail)
3. Set up a Google+ Profile with your name and photo, complete every field including all your website urls and email
addresses especially if you have multiple sites.
4. Install and configure AuthorSure plugin
5. On your WordPress site go to "Your Profile" page (upper right corner of your site under your photo) and enter the
URL of your Google+ Profile in the box next to the Google+ icon
6. On Google+ click on your Profile icon then click the Edit Profile button then click in the "Contributor To" section
and add a link to your Author page on your WordPress site - your author page URL will be something like
http://www.site.com/author/user (get this link on the AuthorSure instructions page in your blog plugin page



Email marketing platforms that can be integrated into your website

Mail Chimp Aweber

Constant Contact Icontact

They vary according to: Price, Deliverability, Layout Options, Metrics

SAMPLE EMAIL SUBSCRIBER FORM - DETAILS TO INCLUDE

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required
Email Address *
name
____________________________
What is your primary reading language?
(Optional drop down menu with major language choices)

Do you only read real books vs digital books?
Yes
No

Which device are you reading on?

• Kindle
• Nook
• Kobo Reader
• iPad
• Sony Reader
• Other

Email Format

• html
• text
• mobile


WEBSITE CHECKLIST:

Create an identifying URL
Register your URL & host it with a hosting service ( ie: Host Gator, Blue Host)
Identify the pages of your website

A home page with a welcome message
An about page with short and long bios & professional picture
A books page presenting published fiction/nonfiction (or links to it)
An events page or calendar
A Speaking page if you are promoting speaking, be sure it has video’s of speaking
A services page informing visitors about what you do—copywriting, editing, etc.
A reviews or testimonials page
A contact page with your info or agent/publicist info
A Blog if you plan to write articles about your market/niche
A press page or FAQ page, if necessary
Pictures & videos
Add a blog platform such as Wordpress.org
Obtain written testimonials of your work & reviews of your book
Create a complete contact page
Learn or hire out search engine optimization for the entire website
Integrate your social media sites – best location is top right
Integrate an email capture form, top right is best (never below the fold of the page)
Add Google analytics to your website – monitor the results consistently

TIPS:

Keep drop-down menus simple
Check that active links connect to the appropriate pages within your site.
Avoid Flash and music intros that slow down page-load time.
Make sure your site loads properly on all popular Internet browsers (Firefox, Internet
Explorer, Chrome).

Hire a professional web developer for best results; ask if they also perform SEO

Consider utilizing the services of a copy writer to create key word rich content on your site

Remember your website requires updates, who will do this? You? Your web developer?
Be sure that you have a plan for maintenance. (If you are using Wordpress there are updates
all the time)


Elements of a writers website (handout)

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Elements of a writers website (handout)