By now we all know how important it is to have a website for any business. Your book is your business if you’re an indie author, so chances are you have a website.
Websites are tricky animals. They’re a necessary evil. We all need one, but few of us can design one ourselves and even fewer of us know what to do after we’ve had one designed.
You know the drill: get a website, make obvious updates in obvious places, and let cyberspace handle it from there.
Except that’s not enough.
Your website is delicate and needy–like a newborn baby waking you up at three in the morning–it needs you. Your website will never be self-sufficient. It’ll never grow and evolve without your constant hand-holding. It’ll never sell your book–not really–unless you care about it.
Yes it’s work to be on top of it. And yes there’s a learning curve. And no you can’t buy your way out of having to do the work on your own. There are no shortcuts if you want to be a player.
In the words of Ray Charles a la Jamie Fox, “You gotta make it do what it do baby!” or else you’ll have a website that does more harm for your content, your book, your vision than it does good.
Let’s talk about you for a second…
Your website is just a vessel to tell your story. It’s that simple. Your website’s purpose isn’t to sell us your book. We go to Amazon for that. It isn’t to connect us with your LinkedIn page or Facebook account, though it’s totally fine if I end up doing that by being on your page.
Your website should be the space we go to get to know you. Where we get to be drawn into the world of your allure. Your website is your book’s mothership. There should be an experience waiting for us — not just a billboard selling us your merchandise.
Think about it: we go to Amazon to buy stuff, but we also go to browse and research. Our favorite websites share ideas, educate, provide a space to make meaningful connections, and to serve us beyond the obvious , which is to sell us something.
Does your website do that? If it doesn’t, it should. If it does, congratulations. Most author’s websites don’t.
Websites accomplish more when consumers make discoveries.
We go to websites to explore first. If we like what we see, learn, read, and hear, then and only then do we buy.
So How Do You Make Your Website Work For You?
That’s mistake number one. Your website shouldn’t work for you. Your website should work for your audience. It should show them how much you can help, guide, and offer them something really cool.
And here are simple ways to do that:
1. Introduce us to you
We’re not talking about the canned bio and your list of works. We’re talking about telling us who you really are. Who inspires you? Why do you love your genre(s) of choice? Where do you write? What are YOU reading? Where did you grow up?
2. Give Stuff Away
That’s right. Share your poetry, photos, quotes, a free chapter, a quiz, an assessment, tips, tools, tutorials, ebooks — anything that’ll prove you’re worthy of my time and that I should come back to visit.
3. Add Your Personality
Videos, photos, and blog posts are ways you can flavor your website. Here’s where you’ll need to build and invest over time. But it’s well worth it. We love Instagram because we can share our photos in real-time and also post them on our blog.
Be goofy, have fun, and provide us a slice of your life as an author. We’ll remember you if you do.
4. Build Community
Try to include your audience often. Testimonials do this well. You can also invite your audience to comment on your blog posts, invite website followers to email you questions, and feature the folks that comment and/or frequent your site.
5. Be Accessible
Interact with your audience. A simple “contact me” page on your website can be the difference between a reader reaching out and a reader going to the next website. Be reachable. Make sure it’s clear how someone should contact you.
6. Keep it fresh
We know if you haven’t been to your website in two months. It’s obvious. Your events page is promoting last fall’s book signings. Your last blog post was seven and a half weeks ago. And there’s no evidence that you care if I stick around or not. Don’t be that person. Keep your website going.
So there it is. I hope you’re headed to your website right now to do a check-up and if we missed something, tell us. How do you keep your readers coming back to your website?
Thanks for another wonderful post. Where else could anyone get that kind of info in such a perfect way of
writing? I’ve a presentation next week, and I am on the look for such information.