Websites For Authors and Writers

This service examines what works best when creating websites for authors and writers and creates editorial content designed to get you noticed. We explore what’s right for you and the most effective means to promote you as a writer around the world.

Your home on the Internet can be as simple or as complicated as you desire. Maybe you’re just starting out as a writer. Perhaps you’re self-published, or an established author with three or four books to your name. You could be with a small publisher or a big one. Today, websites play a crucial role in the way the world does business. Companies lacking an online presence might as well be invisible. Authors are no different. You may have written the world’s greatest book, but if no one knows about it, then it might as well not exist. You need to get yourself on line if you want to get noticed.

Almost all published and self-published authors, along with many aspiring writers, now have their own websites. But what kind of a site do you need? What types of information about you and your work should you include? Your readers are generally interested in you and your work, so you can include all kinds of things on a website. However, should it simply be your personal place on the web or something more businesslike?

Today your website is usually the medium through which people first learn about you. Consequently, the home page has to be interesting and have all the pertinent information about you. Yet it also needs to be concise and get to the point as quickly as possible. It has to hold the customer’s attention, yet not overwhelm them with too much detail. You have very little time to capture someone's attention and sell your idea. People reading web copy typically scan the page rather than read every word. Your home page has to present a simple concept, solve a problem and offer a solution in seconds. Consequently, it’s vital that you have the right words and enough of them to grab and hold the visitor’s attention.

Once you have people’s interest with your home page, what else should you put on-line? Biographical details are a must, but don’t be tempted to go overboard. Your website may be your home in cyberspace, but it’s a marketing tool too. Pictures of you with your family or pets present a good image, but don’t overdo it. Photographs from your professional life are far more beneficial. Your readers always want to know more about you, so give them something interesting to read. If your site has something cool to do, rather than simply reading your text, no matter how interesting it is, people will visit more often. They will also invariably stay longer, increasing the chances that they will buy your books.

And how do you promote your new presence on the Internet? S earch engines look for certain words, which need to be incorporated into your home page so that your site will be ranked higher in directory queries. When searching for a new product or service, more and more people are using the Internet to locate the goods and services they need. Are they likely to find your website? If someone hasn’t heard of you, they won't be searching for you by name. Instead they will use words describing the information they need or the problem they have. If they are looking for mystery writers, children’s authors or writers of specialized non-fiction, they'll enter those words as the search criteria, rather than a name.

If you already have a website, when you enter the relevant criteria into the search box, does your site appear at the top of the search results or even on the first page. If not, how far down the rankings are you? You should also type in your own name and see what the search engine comes up with. Are you in first place or close to it? If you can’t find yourself, no one else will be able to either. Your website needs some improvements if it’s going to work effectively for you. Maybe you’ve added photographs, graphics or text over the last twelve months, yet still feel you now need a revamp. We can examine what you are currently using, suggest changes and to improve your site’s look, feel and accessibility to search engines.

Websites aren’t for everyone, but today if you want to get noticed, it’s advisable to have one.

Contact me directly for rates and fees for Websites for Authors and Writers at writers@simon-rose.com.