Yes, readers want to get to know authors and their books. But when is information “TMI” – too much information?
According to WWW website designer Kendra Haskins, “Always view your site from the prospective of a visitor. They’re not going to spend a lot of time digging through too much text or endless graphics to find what they are looking for. You need to make sure your site is simple to navigate and easy for visitors to find the information they need.”
We advocate following that old traditional “above the fold” rule of P.R. The most important information should be visible when the page first appears — don’t make people have to scroll down too far to find something or wade through fluff to get to the good stuff. If they have to work too hard to find what they’re looking for, they’ll probably move on to search somewhere else.
Here’s the least you DO need on your author website:
- Information about you, the author (who are you, what led you to write…)
- Information about your book (include that blurb – tell the reader why they want to spend time reading YOUR book!)
- How to contact you (a form is nice, but some people don’t like forms so make sure to include an email address, one associated with your author website, i.e. jane@janedoe.com)
- Where to find you (i.e. book signings, festivals, your availability to SKYPE with book clubs)
- Blog (this keeps your author website in motion, lets you share news and more directly connect with your readers, even solicit their feedback
- Reviews (if you’ve got ’em, flaunt ’em!)
Each writer website designed by the WWW team adheres to these rules. We want readers to be able to quickly and easily learn more about you, your writing, your book(s) and how they can connect with you, by commenting on your built-in blog, through your social media or at your next book signing!
Visit our Portfolio page to see samples of websites we’ve done for emerging authors, and as always, you can email us at info@writerswin.com for more info. Have a cool website you want to share – Leave it in your comment below!
Happy Friday and enjoy your weekend…