Author websites are important for book marketing and they can help you sell more books.

Look at it from a reader’s perspective. Because, to them, author websites show them who’s serious and who’s not, they establish which authors seem to be in it for the long haul and which authors they should feel comfortable investing their time and money in.

So let’s talk about 5 important features that separate successful author websites from unsuccessful ones.

And by successful I mean those that sell more books, versus those that just eat up money in hosting fees.

Author Websites Should Ensure a Good First Impression

Remember who your market is and who you’re catering to. If you’re creating a website from scratch, a designer should be able to help you come up with a modern design that suits your genre or topic.

If you’ve had a website for awhile there’s a good chance it could use some updating.

When to know if you need an update? Check out other successful author websites in your genre or topic, I can almost assure you they’ll be top notch.

And keep in mind, top notch doesn’t mean expensive. You can definitely have a relatively inexpensive, easy to maintain website that looks good. It’s about making smart decisions with a designer that understands your goals and needs.

Create an Engaging About the Author Page

It’s really important to create an about page that’s as interesting as possible for your genre or topic. Of course you want to be market appropriate, but use humor if you can, share something personal, try to make that special connection that makes people feel confident in buying your book.

The last thing you want to do is turn your about page in to a glorified resume, even if you’re in a specialized field for your “other job” author websites should be more personal.

And don’t forget to include links to any social sites you’re active on. And by active I mean  using regularly and garnering engagement on, the ones that make you look good.

Highlight Your Books

This may sound like a no-brainer but you’d be surprised at how many author websites make potential buyers search around for info on their books.

If you want to sell more books they should be the highlight!

If you publish frequently you should have a spot on your home page even to feature your most recent or upcoming release as well.

Create Long Term Fans

Author websites should also have an opt-in of some sort. The important thing is to make sure it has real value for your fans and followers. After all, you want them to engage with you.

So in exchange for joining your fan club (or whatever other creative name you come up) they should get something in return. Maybe it’s a free copy of the first book in your series. Or a free workbook. Or maybe you do giveaways and announce winners once a month in your newsletter.

Have a Great Blog

Websites with blogs get 55% more traffic than websites with no blog. And you can’t sell more books without more traffic.

I’ll give some of you a moment to get up off the floor. I know blogging is like a curse word to a lot of indie authors because you’re already doing so much.  And I get it.

But the positive effects blogs can have on author websites can’t be ignored.

So check out this recent post on March observances I did that includes ideas for blog content and get to work!

If you need a referral to someone who can help you create a site or consult with you on lucrative revamps please contact us!

And, if you need a monthly planner to help line out what you need to be doing for your site, you can download mine here!