Do authors REALLY need websites?
I thought I’d tackle a biggie this week! Believe it or not, I’m often asked if authors really need their own websites. Of course, I’m hugely biased, given what I do, but I’m still always a bit surprised when people say they don’t think they’re necessary.
Quite often the argument I hear is that authors can use social media platforms such as Facebook to keep in touch with their readers. It’s easy and simple and the audience (at least some of them) is already ‘there’.
While to a certain extent this is true, of course, there are a few reasons why this is a risky long-term policy, and why nothing really trumps having your own corner of the internet, dedicated to your writing career.
So in today’s post I’m going to run through my top reasons why authors do need their own websites. Hopefully I can convince you!
Your website is your online home
First and foremost, your author website is your online home, a place to 'put' everything related to your career. It’s the only place online you have full control over, and the best and most efficient way of readers finding out what else you've written, plus links to buy your books, more info about you, and behind the scenes stuff.
I don’t know about you, but if I think of a business or brand I’m interested in and go to Google them only to discover they don’t have a website – maybe they just have an Instagram page - I’m instantly more suspicious and feel that the brand doesn’t take their business seriously.
And being an author is a serious business, and you are the business owner. It’s your career. If you ran any other type of business, you would have a website for it! Especially if you wanted to be seen as established and more importantly – growing.
Also in this day and age, so much activity is moving online, and so I’d argue that having your own website is more important than ever.
So, following on from the idea that your website is your ‘online home’ and the one place you can keep all the important info relating to your career, here’s a little rundown of the things you can host on your site, that don’t work as well hosted elsewhere:
1. PR coverage/ testimonials
A website is pretty much the only place to display all your testimonials and any PR coverage or reviews you've had. Of course, some of these will also be on your publisher’s website and your Amazon pages, but there’s usually a limit to how much you can feature in these locations, whereas there’s literally no limit to what you can have on your own website.
It’s a great way to archive coverage that might be lost elsewhere.
In this way too, your author website acts as your online CV, listing all your achievements and accolades in one convenient place.
Having all these together is great ‘social proof’, and allows potential readers to see exactly what you’ve achieved in your career.
2. Events and news
If you’re the kind of author who does lots of events or even book tours, then of course, your website is the natural place to host all their details, plus news about competitions, offers and your latest releases.
It’s also the only place you can really host exclusive extra content for readers – think short stories, or extra pieces about the characters in your novel.
Giving your readers this kind of bonus content really helps build a relationship with them, and means they are more likely to become loyal fans, rather than forgetting about you after they put your book down.
3. Professional contacts
Author websites are really useful too from a professional point of view. They’re by far the best and easiest place to list your professional contacts so that media and/or TV rights people can find the information they need quickly if they are interested in featuring/working with you.
Press especially can take your official bio and image from your website, easily and efficiently.
Do not underestimate the importance of this!
4. Links to social media
This is a pretty obvious one (although you’d be surprised how many authors forget to include them), but your website is the best place to house all your links to all your social media platforms, and of course, links to buy your books!
5. A blog
Blogging is a WHOLE topic all of its own (on which I have a lot to say!) but I’ll keep it brief for the purposes of this post. Blogging, when done well, is brilliant for search engine optimisation, which helps new readers discover your website. And bringing new eyeballs to your site on a regular basis ensures more people discover your books, which can only be a good thing.
Blogging is incredibly powerful – I’m a huge believer in the power of using content to market yourself. Creating valuable, long-form content that would not work on social media is a really effective way of standing out from the crowd.
6. Your author mailing list sign up
And the biggest and most important one! Your author website is the best and easiest place from which to build an email list. I feel strongly that all authors should start building their mailing lists as soon as possible. Your mailing list is the only data you ‘own’ and more important than your social media platforms; their algorithms can and do change.
You can start building a mailing list without having a website (I’ve blogged about how to do exactly that here) but you’ll find it much easier to build traction with your list if you host it on a website, which will be visited far more frequently than a holding page that you simply tweet about from time to time.
Why relying on social media alone is risky
At the beginning of this post I said that using platforms such as Facebook and Instagram as a substitute for a website wasn’t a great idea. While I am a great fan of social media, it does have its limitations.
The biggest being that the connection to your audience is dictated by the platform and its algorithms, and more often than not, you will find you need to use paid advertising to reach all your readers. Facebook, for example, is notorious for only showing posts to a very limited amount of your fans. To target more people, you need to pay them.
As well as this, if someone reports you (even if in error), you run the risk of being booted off a platform and losing all your followers. Also, Instagram is huge at the moment, but who knows what might come next? Focusing all your attention building your online brand on someone else’s property is not a great idea long-term. Your website is solely yours, and you control everything about it. And websites aren’t going anywhere any time soon…
So there you go! I hope I have convinced you. If you would like to start building your own author website but find the idea absolutely terrifying or awful, you can of course contact me and I would be happy to help!
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