Author Platforms: Author Website

Last month, we talked about what an Author Platform is. Our project plan is to build the platform, bit by bit, each month. I could start this project by telling you to draw out your blueprint for the platform, but I won’t. I could, but I’m afraid we’d all end up huddled in a dark closet. Let’s just take it step-by-step.

If you haven’t already done it, create a web page for yourself. The URL should include your name. Mine is: http://helenginger.com/. You could also call it something like authorhelenginger.com, but I think it’s easiest to just use your name. If you call it something like, wildwriterintheskyblueyonder.com, you won’t pop up on an Internet search as easily when someone Googles your name to try to find you. If you call it the name of your book, how many websites will you have to maintain by the time your fifth or fifteenth book comes out?

Create the site yourself or pay someone to do it. Which you do depends on your skill and/or finances. If you’re going to build your own or even if you plan to turn it over to someone else to do, I recommend you visit sites and note what you like and don’t like, what pages you would like to have, the colors, the pictures, the layout. Spend some time doing research. One site I like to browse is Xuni. They do professional sites for a lot of well-known authors. You may not be able to afford them, but you can get great ideas for your own site.

Start with a few pages. You can add more later. And, no, don’t wait until you have a published book to promote.

Keep your site clean, make it easy to read and easy to navigate. Put your navigation buttons on every page in the same place - at the top or in the sidebar. I started my website years ago. Within a few years, it had grown to around 40 pages. One day, I stopped, looked at it, and decided to take a machete to it. It was too big to be easily navigated, let alone managed.

Provide useful information to the public. Yes, put stuff about you (you are trying to build your platform, after all), but include pages that are for your readers or visitors. I have several pages of Resources for Writers, plus a page of Contests and a page of Events for writers. These, too, will build your platform.

Make some of your pages ones that are updated often, so visitors will come back to your site. My pages of Contests and Events are updated every week. The Resources pages are updated whenever I post a new article. The point is to make your site one that people visit, and if it’s static they won’t bother coming back.

Something to keep in mind: Building and maintaining a website will cost money.

An alternative: Blog hosts, like Wordpress and Blogger, are now offering templates that allow you to create multiple pages. You can use those pages to create a website-look to your blog. If you do, the same rules apply to your blog/website. Keep it clean, easy to navigate, welcoming, not stagnant, and preferably in your own name.

We could have started with creating your blog, but I’m assuming most of you already have one, so creating your website is our first step in building your platform. At the very least, go reserve your name so it’ll be yours when you do decide to create your own website.

The late Helen Ginger (1952-2021) was an author, blogger, and the Coordinator of Story Circle Network's Editorial Services and writing coach. She was also a former mermaid. She taught public speaking as well as writing and marketing workshops. Helen was the author of Angel Sometimes, Dismembering the Past, and three books in TSTC Publishing’s TechCareers series.