What should be on your Author Website

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Author websites can be crucial for promoting books, but authors are often left perplexed about what actually should be on their website.

It may require some fine-tuning with your book marketing plan, but you should promote your website wherever you have a presence on the internet: your social media, your Amazon page, an article where you’re mentioned, your mom’s Facebook post where she brags about you, anywhere you can!

You want to direct as much people as you can to your website, which should be the focal point of everything about you so you can then direct these viewers to where they can learn more about you, where they can buy your book(s), where they can follow you on the internet, and how they can contact you.

Some author websites are just a landing page with links to where viewers can buy books or where they can follow the author on social media, other author websites are more comprehensive and feature a lot more content like regular blog posts or videos to entice people to keep coming back. What you’ll need depends entirely on how you plan to promote your book and your budget but here are some basic elements you should have:

A biography about you. Usually your “about” page; you should have a little section devoted to letting people know who you are, where you’re from, your picture, and your story. That way you’re not some unknown entity but a name with a face, and a backstory!

A mailing list signup. Arguably one of the most valuable part of your website as it allows you to grow an email list of people who want to keep up with news about you or when your book is coming out. Having a button to signup on your website simplifies the process for your early supporters to follow your updates and your journey. Plus once you have that new book out and blast information about it to your email list, you’re guaranteed a couple sales!

Links to buy or preorder your books. Let’s cut to the chase, for some of you, your website may just be fancy packaging to catch your potential customer’s eye! It’s best to have links to as many book retailers as you can or as many book formats you have; you don’t know if someone prefers audiobooks or eBooks over regular ol’ print books!

If you still find yourself out of ideas for what to have on your website, consider your favorite author, what they have on their website, and what you wish they had or what you’d like to learn more about.

Read more about what else should be on your website at IngramSpark’s blog.