One simple tweak to make to your author website today
I think this might be the shortest blog post I ever write, but here we go anyway! A small but important New Year thing that lots of people miss…
Updating your copyright designation to reflect the new year.
What is a copyright designation?
It’s basically a line of text in the footer of your author website that tells anyone visiting your site that you own the copyright!
It’s not essential to do this - you own the copyright to the content on your website whether you do this or not - but it doesn’t hurt to add it as it gives a professional touch to your author website, and as I’ve said many times before, treating your writing as though it is a ‘real job’ (because it is!) is SO important for your mindset.
How to add a copyright designation to your author website
Thankfully this is easy-peasy. It doesn’t involve lawyers or experts or complicated jargon or anything.
Just the copyright symbol, followed by a simple line of text, at the very bottom of your website.
For example:
© Charlotte Duckworth 2019-2025
I suggest adding this to your footer. That way it displays on every page on your author website.
Here’s how the footer looks on this website, with the copyright designation:
Make sure you include the date the website was created at the beginning and end with the current year, to cover all the content on your website (and subtly remind people not to nick any of it!).
Simple!
Made with Squarespace?
While I am a HUGE fan of Squarespace, now might also be a good time to mention that you don’t need to have ‘Made with Squarespace’ in your footer!
All new Squarespace sites have this line in the footer automatically, because Squarespace are hoping you won’t remove it, and it’s basically a subtle - and free - piece of marketing for them.
However, I actively encourage you to remove the ‘Made with Squarespace’ credit.
It’s not a mandatory requirement at all, and leaving it on there makes your website look a little amateur 😉
(It is in fact one of the first things I remove when I start working on a client’s website!)
And that’s it. One simple New Year tweak to make to your author website. I told you this post was going to be short and sweet… Happy 2025!
Want more info on what to put in your author website’s footer? Step this way →
