Build Your Home on the Internet: Part 1
Are you ready to have some fun? Not everyone would agree with me when I say it’s fun to build a website. As a matter of fact, the me from just a few months ago would not agree with the me writing this today. But trust me when I say that building your author website can be somewhat enjoyable and even, dare I say, exciting. I swear.
Do I really need a website? I know the question has crossed your mind, and the answer is yes. Think of your author website as your home on the vast, swirling world that is the internet. This is the place where people can find you and leave you messages, the place where you can say, “I’m a writer and this is my book,” and where you can share what you find interesting or helpful or amusing. From your author website, you can blog, reveal your cover, sell your books, and create a following.
We live in a world where people google all day long. If they come across you and/or your book, and they’d like to know more, they’re going to google you—and that’s your opportunity to make a connection with them. In addition, if you’re going to self-publish, having a website is a matter of credibility. You need to turn up in a search of your name or your book’s name or, if you have one, your publishing name. If you don’t show up in a search, they may not believe you exist. I’m not saying you don’t exist if you’re not on the internet (obviously), but it has come to the point where people will wonder about you if they can’t find you there.
Your website will represent you as a writer. For this reason, you’ll need to provide a professional-looking space that describes you and your book to some degree. It’s not a place to share your secrets, but it is a place to share the author part of you. You might be wondering if you need a full-blown website in order to do these things. Can you simply have a Facebook page? You can. But from what I know about FB pages, they can’t do everything a website can do—and author websites need to do a lot (a list is forthcoming in my next blog, Build Your Home on the Internet: Part 2).
Is building a website scary? A little bit, yes. For those who are not computer hackers or technical experts or twelve-year-olds who were born with an iPad in their hands, it can be somewhat nerve-racking. But you have options. Many options. If you are opposed to the idea of building a website yourself, for instance, you can hire someone to build it for you. The problem with this option is that every time you want to make an update, change, or announcement, you’ll have to get that person to do it for you. I can tell you from experience that you will likely be making many updates and changes. So, that’s something to think about.
Another option is to purchase a do-in-yourself website, like I did on Squarespace (Wix is another). These providers have multitudes of website templates from which to choose and all kinds of help in the form of tutorials and videos. You can purchase your domain name there (authorkimcatanzarite.com is mine). When it comes to the actual building, there is little to no coding involved. Pages are ready for you to insert your photos and text, and “Buy” or other buttons can easily be set up, as well as pop-ups that ask visitors to sign up for your email list. You’ll have to study Search Engine Optimization (SEO) a bit, and it might take more than ten minutes to figure out how to set up your blog just the way you want it set up (still tweaking mine, as a matter of fact), but it’s not too bad. It’s definitely doable. And, worse comes to worst, if you find yourself stumped about something, you can always chat with a technician.
Some people claim to have built their site in an hour—if that’s true, it’s probably pretty bare bones. If you’re feeling your way through the process, like I did, you’ll spend a few days and you’ll watch several of those video tutorials I mentioned. Give yourself plenty of time to learn and to work.
Another great thing is that Squarespace allows you to begin setting up the site before you have to decide whether or not you want to buy it. So there is no pressure to make a decision before you know what you’ll be dealing with. I recommend you give it a try and see if you feel up for the challenge.
Whether you hire someone or handle it yourself doesn’t matter as long as the job gets done.
Feel free to share this blog post: www.authorkimcatanzarite.com/blog/build-your-home1-12-2020.
My next installment, Build Your Home on the Internet: Part 2, provides a list of things
you’ll want to include on your website and why.
