3 Steps to Help You Create an Exceptional Author Website

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How To Create An Author Website: A Comprehensive Guide

Creating a website for authors is essential to grow a fanbase and promote their works. In today's environment, having a website provides authors an easy platform to reach a wider audience and showcase both their existing and upcoming projects. This article is a comprehensive guide to detailing the key steps to follow to create an author website.

Before committing to creating a website, it's important to identify and understand the niche or genre the author would like to focus on to ensure the website is tailored in the right direction. The website must be captivating and representative of an author's style to draw a larger audience. Additionally, understanding the niche and topic helps with the layout and design to ensure the website looks modern and professional.

The domain name is the most visible element of any website, choosing an appropriate name is essential to drawing attention of a larger audience. Depending on the author's existing recognition and branding, it can be beneficial to include their name in the domain name itself or if an author wishes to remain anonymous, then choosing a domain name that accurately acts as a form of expression is recommended.

The next step in the process is to choose a web hosting platform for the author website. Choosing the right web hosting platform is important as the success of the website is heavily reliant on the hosting's performance. Factors to consider include the hosting provider's customer support, space storage, loading speed and uptime.

Once the perfect domain name and web hosting provider are selected, the author should consider utilizing website building platforms such as Squarespace, WordPress and Wix, which make the website building process straightforward. Website building platforms provide a library of ideas and website templates to choose from, making the overall website building process much easier.

Design and layout is an effective way to make the appearance of a website more captivating. Choosing colours that go well with the style and genre of the author's work will help draw the reader's attention further. Keeping the design layout simple, yet still effective will ensure ease of navigation and readability.

The most important element of any website is having content to fill it. Whether it's a blog focusing on topics related to the author's niche or regular updates on upcoming projects and works, it's essential to keep a website filled with engaging and interesting content. Additionally, writing with a professional tone and following a good grammar and punctuation structure will avoid any reputational errors.

Although website building platforms come with a library of premade elements, having a general understanding of HTML and CSS can help in making the website look more attractive and professional. HTML is used to create the basic framework of the website, while CSS is used to add colour and fonts to the website. Combining the right HTML, CSS and images can ensure a captivating website for readers.

Images and videos are key elements in grabbing the reader's attention and providing an extra sense of creativity. Integrating appropriate images and videos related to the author's work will ensure the website is constantly engaging and expressing the desired opinion or message.

Regardless of the website's design, content or images, it's essential to focus on the reader's experience. Ensuring there is an easy redirect path for the user to easily navigate the website, read through the content and find any additional helpful information about the author. Specific elements such as having a menu bar, minimizing the scrolling time and providing a search engine if needed are key elements that make up a user-friendly website.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is an important element to focus on when creating a website. This helps with the website's visibility, Rankings and page views. SEO is constantly changing but the main focus is to identify key words and phrases that match best with the website's content. Understanding keyword utilisation, analyzing website performance, building backlinks and outsource reliable search engine optimisers are key elements to understanding SEO fundamentals.

In today's world, having a website that is mobile responsive and optimised is imperative. This will ensure regardless of which device the website is being viewed on, the website performance remains the same and is user friendly.

Integrating social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Goodreads into the website is a great way to draw a larger audience. Having social links are an effective way to encourage communication and allow users to view other aspects of the author's work.

Having an effective security system is imperative to operating a successful website. Any data stored on the website must be of high priority and taken care of. Utilizing protection against malware can protect both the website and user from any fraudulent activity. Additionally, having a backup system in place ensures any data that gets lost can be recovered.

Tracking the performance of a website can help with understanding how a website interacts with an audience, their needs and how well the website performs as a whole. Having certain tracking tools such as Google Analytics, HubSpot and Hotjar can provide valuable insights and ensure the website's scope is optimised.

Creating an author website isn't as complicated as it seems. By following these steps, such as choosing a niche or topic, domain name selection, web hosting, website building platforms, website design and layout, content creation and writing, basic HTML and CSS, image and multimedia integration, user experience and navigation, SEO fundamentals, mobile responsiveness, social media integration, website security and analytics and tracking tools will ensure an effective website is created to reach a larger and more varied audience.