Nowadays, most major brands have a website. This is true whether it’s a beloved corporation like Chipotle or a famous person like comedian Jim Gaffigan. Websites are an effective means to provide information with customers, though the information may vary depending on the focus of the brand. While Chipotle shares details about its menu, nutrition, locations, hours, etc., Jim Gaffigan promotes his books, movie and television appearances, and dates for upcoming performances. Authors also benefit from having a website. Most famous authors, such as Stephen King and J. K. Rowling, have websites. What about you? Does an independent or self-published author need their own website?
Top Reasons for Indie Authors to Have a Website
There are several reasons indie and self-published authors choose to have their own website. Here are a few:
1. Information: Readers that wish to keep up with an author are likely to Google their name. By having your own website, you can share information about yourself and your books with them. A website also provides you with the opportunity to direct readers to your preferred retailers.
2. Branding: Typically, an author that has their own website is viewed with more respect and legitimacy than an author that doesn’t show up on a search engine. If you are a relatively new and unknown author, having a website allows you to project yourself as being a bigger brand than you currently are.
3. Ownership: Some authors choose to rely solely on social media sites or author profile pages on various retailers for their online presence. However, in these instances, your branding is limited by the parent company (Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, etc.). The parameters that they set in place control the look and feel of your content. Additionally, reliance on social media limits your contact to only those readers that have social media accounts. Having your own website enables you to provide content for all of your customers, and to present your content in how you want to.
4. Connecting: One of the most powerful reasons to have a website is to connect with your readers. This could be through a detailed page about you, the author. It could be through honest blog posts, if you choose to have a blog. It could also be additional content that is related to your books, such as free extra chapters or content rewrites from a different character’s point of view. Or it could be simply having an email newsletter that keeps them informed of new releases and other updates.
5. Cost: The price of operating your own website has dropped dramatically in recent decades. In fact, it is even possible to have a completely free author website. More on that below.
The Cost of an Author Website
Some “subdomain sites” like Wix and Weebly allow you to create your own website quickly, with no coding experience, and for free as long as you allow their ads. These type of subdomain sites, however, don’t rank well on search engines and advertisements on an author’s website will often remove any appearance of professionalism. To use a real domain name and have the ads removed from these types of sites can easily cost between $15 and $25 per month.
The costs associated with creating your own website from scratch include monthly fees for your domain and hosting, and a one-time fee for web design. Because of the popularity and flexibility of WordPress, the costs of web design have decreased over time and have even enabled many people to create their own sites. Domain and hosting fees may average around $15 per month, and a quality website designer may easily charge $300 or more.
Besides the financial costs, the other factor to consider is the cost of your time. If you handle your own domain, hosting and design, you will have to spend your time handling any functionality or downtime issues. Additionally, many authors choose to blog on their website. Blogging can benefit your SEO, but to have a successful blog involves a considerable time commitment.
With options ranging from free to expensive, and from easy setup to time-consuming maintenance, there is an author website option that fits the needs of everyone. If you are an author that is committed to success, give serious consideration to claiming your home on the internet by having your own author website.
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