How to give your author website an audit

These days, it truly is possible to create your own stunning author website without being an expert. All it takes is time – most web platforms such as Squarespace and Wix are easy to use – once you’ve got over the initial learning curve, and learnt your way around their content management systems.

And that’s pretty easy to do because these days there’s a huge wealth of knowledge and resources out there to help you build your website from the ground up.

I don’t say this to do myself out of work - I really do believe that it’s empowering for authors to be in control of their online presence, and that’s why when I do build sites for other authors included in the price of the design is an extensive training call at the end (just before the site goes live) where I teach them how to update the site in the future.  

I’ve worked with several authors now who have built their own websites on various platforms, and they have largely had really positive experiences. Most of them say they’re so unbelievably chuffed to have conquered the ‘tech mountain’ of building their own site, and as someone who loves working with technology, this is really gratifying. But sometimes, they want a bit of reassurance, an expert eye and some hand-holding, and that’s where I come in.

I offer website audits, for those authors who have built their own websites but want an expert to look it over and double check that everything is working as well as it possibly can.  

Even as a web designer, you can get lost in the design process and there may be things you miss or forget when building a site. In order to ensure these are minimised, I actually use an extensive checklist before launching to make sure I’ve covered everything.

So, I thought it might be interesting to some authors who already have existing sites if I shared what’s involved in a website audit.

Hopefully, you can use this information to give your own site a mini-audit, or if you’d like my expert eye on your site, then of course do get in touch!

My audits last 90 minutes, and they’re either done in-person, or over a video call, where I share my screen and talk you through all my thoughts. If your site is built on Squarespace, I’ll take a look at the back-end too.

So, what’s involved in a website audit? Let’s get started!

First of all, I look at your content. Things I’ll cover include:

1. Is it super clear immediately on your homepage who you are and what you write?

2. What does the navigation look like – how many items are in the navigation, do they have straightforward titles (nothing too artistic here – we want things to be simple and easy to use)?

3. Is there a link to the homepage in the navigation? (top tip: this is not necessary! Your site title/logo can serve as a link to your homepage!)

4. Is there a short description of the books on the homepage, or at least some idea of what the books are about/what genre they are?

5. Are all past and future books listed, with clear links to buy or pre-order them?

6. Are the links to social media clear and easy to find – and more importantly still, do they work!? Eg, people add a Facebook icon to their site but forget to actually link the thing up to their own Facebook page

7. Is the author bio quick to find, or is it buried somewhere?  Is there a professional author headshot?

8. And last but not least, my personal crusade – is there an obvious call to action on every page, and are you building a mailing list?

Content is clearly a crucial component of your author website, but we also need to look at the design of the site. Good content poorly designed means that visitors to your website will leave disappointed, without being able to find what they needed.

So, under ‘design’ we’ll look at: 

1. Whether the website’s overall feel suits the genre of the books. For example, if you’re writing crime thrillers, you probably don’t want a website that’s flowery with scripty fonts and tons of pink. Bear in mind too that you may have to put your personal taste to one side here – your website should serve your readers, not you, so give them what they expect/are looking for

2. Is there plenty of white space? Are all elements on the page spaced out nicely so that content stands out, rather than looking crowded or cluttered?

3. Does the website have a maximum of three fonts? Are different heading sizes used effectively and consistently? Do the fonts work well together, or do they jar?

4. Is the body font at least 16px big? Small fonts are a real no-no these days. We want content to be easy to read and bigger is better!

5. How many colours are used on the site, and do they sit well together?

6. Are the photos high resolution and do they look professional? Are they cropped correctly?

7. Is the text an easy colour to read? Do links within text contrast properly so that people know they are links?

8. Is all text broken into easily digestible short and sweet lines? We want to avoid large, unbroken paragraphs of text.

9. If text overlays an image, is it easy to read? Do buttons line up nicely?

10. Does all text have plenty of space around it, making sure none runs from wall-to-wall (the full width of the site)?

11. Is there a contact form and is it easy to find?

12. How does the website look on mobile and iPad? Is the design fully responsive, or does it go bananas?

13. Is there a favicon? (a favicon is the tiny little icon that appears next to your website address in your browser window)

14. If the author used a web platform builder such as Squarespace or Wix, has their branding been removed from the footer?

And last but not least, I’ll take a look at your SEO. This is a bigger topic that deserves its own post, but some of the things we’ll cover are: 

1. Are all navigation links simple and clear?

2. Are URL extensions also simple and clear, making use of keywords where relevant and also correlating with the navigation links?

3. Is there a site title and site description that’s keyword rich and explains exactly what the site is about?

4. Does the site have a custom domain? (we want to avoid things like lovelyauthor.wordpress.com)

5. Is the site connected to social media so that visitors can share content from it easily?

6. Does each page have a dedicated social sharing image?

7. Does each page have an SEO description?

8. Does the site have an SSL certificate? (good news, if you built it on Squarespace, it will have one automatically!)

Phew! So, as you can see, there’s quite a lot to cover when building your website to ensure that it’s reaching its full potential, and working its hardest for you. It’s really worth taking the time to run through all of these elements and take a look at your website with a critical eye, as getting these things right can make a huge difference to how your site is received.

And after you’ve spent so long building the damn thing, you want to make sure it gets all the love and attention it deserves, right?!

If you’d like to book me for a website audit, I’ll run through all of the above and more, and suggest ways in which you can improve your website, leaving you with a notebook full of tips and tricks! Get in touch to book!