Author Website Content and Saying a Lot with a Little
Episode #3 of the course How to market your book online by John Robin
Welcome to Day 3!
As promised, I’m going to show you how you can get everything across that you need to with your author website by sticking to the limit of five links. We’ll cover four major components: author bio, books page, contact page, and extras.
Before I jump in, let me give you two quick tips that will simplify your website drastically: set your author bio page as your home page. When someone types in “yourname.com,” they will land right away on your bio and see the navigation menu that takes them to your books, contact, and other relevant links. Here’s an article on how to do this using WordPress.com.
Second, make sure the writing on every page of your site is in third person present tense. This will give your site a professional edge.
1. Author Bio
Your author bio page is a place for you to tell readers what you write and why. I’ll be going into a lot more detail about the specific messaging you want to convey in your bio on Day Five, so for now, let’s just talk about the author bio page and what it has to contain:
• A well-written author bio
• Your picture (ideally a headshot, cropped at about the shoulders, without too much space above your head)
That’s it—simple. Don’t let this page get bogged down with too much information, because remember: your navigation menu lets people know where they can find out more about you.
2. Books Page
Your books page is where you can showcase what you write. This page is so important that it deserves its own lesson (tomorrow!), so for now, as with the author bio page, mark this on your checklist as something to come back to.
3. Contact Page
The contact page tells readers where they can find you and how they can get in touch.
Put your email address here. Make it easy for someone who wants to get in touch with you to simply copy and paste your email to a draft and connect. You might get spam (though surprisingly, a lot less than you’d expect), but the amount of time it takes to click “DELETE” on a spam email is far outweighed by the invaluable connections you might be missing from fans who hesitate to contact you because you didn’t make it easy for them.
This page is also where you can place links to the major social media outlets you use. Keep it simple and don’t overload this page. If you’re only active on Twitter and your Facebook fan page, then you only need these links.
If you try to send people in every direction, they’ll go nowhere; if you limit their options, then for those who really want to contact you, they will show up where you are most likely to connect with them.
4. Extras
What about a home page? What about fan pages? Your blog?
Use the limit of five links to your advantage. You only have two extra pages to feature, so write down every page you think is important and circle the two most important ones. I always recommend an author have a blog, even if you don’t think you’re a blogger—you’ll see why on Day Six!
Today’s Takeaway
The takeaway is simple for today: less is more. Limit yourself to five pages. And stay stoked for more on author bios. As promised, we’ll go into detail on the books page tomorrow.
Recommended book
Your First 1000 Copies by Tim Grahl
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