Suvudu Universe

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* This is part two of this two part series. Check yesterdays post for the first in the series, where author website basics were discussed. Note – The lovely Kristine Esser wrote both post.

Having an author website is a great idea, but that author website shouldn’t just be a billboard. People won’t drive by your home page, see your image, and then want more information. To draw people to your author site, you need to create content that entices them to learn more about you and your work.

Some of the content you need is strikingly obvious: Your name, your works and links to buy them, contact information and reviews and testimonials. Much of that content you can set and forget, but in order to build a site that continues to attract new and old audiences alike, you need to regularly add new content.

For many authors, this means blogging. You are, after all, a writer, so it makes sense that you would use writing to communicate with your audience. You don’t, however, need to limit yourself to writing.

Remember that, through your author site and your online interactions, you’re selling yourself as much as you are selling your works. When people have a more personal connection with you, they are more invested in your career and your continued success. And because they are more invested, they are more interested in your entire writing process and not just your output.

Consider these types of content for your author website:

• What you’re working on now. These little tidbits of work-to-come can build anticipation in your audience.

• Excerpts from your works, both previously published and in-progress.

• Behind-the-scenes glimpses at a writer’s world, such as photos of the view from your work space, from your publisher’s office, or at book readings and signings.

• Videos of all sorts. Whenever you go on any book-related travel, take a video camera and record speeches, book readings, book signings or travelogue videos. Let your fans live vicariously through you.

• Audio files. Hold interviews, read excerpts or just talk about writing and what it’s like to be a writer. You might even find a desire to host a regular podcast.

• Advice for other writers. You know doubt came across some great writing advice as you were developing as an author, so share that advice and anything else you’ve learned about writing along the way.

• Inspirational images. Not just images of general inspiration, but pictures of people, places and things that inspired or informed characters, items or settings in your books. If you’re a nonfiction writer, images of artifacts and locations mentioned in your book can feel to your readers like bonus content that others don’t get to access.

• Talk about your mistakes and how you dealt with them. Many readers only know an author’s final output without thinking much of the sometimes excruciating process that led to it. Your story isn’t just what’s in your published work; it’s also about what you went through to get it published. Tell your fans of the writer’s block, technical problems and other slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that are otherwise hidden behind the finished product.

• Impressions, interactions and interviews with other writers. The greatest support you may ever find for your writing career will likely come from other writers. If you’ve made it as a writer, it’s time to give back and help support that community by drawing more attention to the people in it. Remember a time when you were just starting out and someone gave you a helping hand; now be that helping hand for someone else.

Note that if you plan on having a lot of multimedia on your site — especially video and audio — your storage needs may go up. If the site takes off, you may need to upgrade your web hosting plan to meet your storage needs.

A common question about author sites is how often new content needs to be posted. The simple answer is this: As often as is comfortable. Of course, you’ll have stretches of time when updates are sparse — you do, after all, have work to do — but you should share some new information at least once or twice a month, just to keep yourself in people’s minds. You also should take some time every month to make sure the basic information on the site is up to date.

Once you have the site going, you need to start bringing people to it. Use social media to link to your site and include the URL in your published works and your online bios. But more importantly, just talk to people. The best marketing is word-of-mouth, so the more your fans feel emotionally attached to you, the more they will encourage their friends to check you out.

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Thanks Kristine. X

So, do you follow these guidelines. Have you learned anything from this two part series? It’s given me a few ideas for a post or two and I know I need a few more pages. I may have to check out my home page again, too! Calls for action, anyone? Please let us know your thoughts below. X