Comments on: Guest post: Author website tips

By: Tonya

Tonya — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 23:14:06 +0000

In reply to Sandra Beckwith. Overall I am. They are proprietorial about their content. Ex. I can’t link my blog to Facebook ( if I wanted to) or use any of my site’s content or graphics designed by them elsewhere. I got my domain thru them so that made things seamless. I will renew my contract gladly this spring because Wix makes having a website easy.

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 22:54:16 +0000

In reply to Tonya.

I’m glad you have a solution that works for you, Tonya. I haven’t heard too much about Wix. Are you happy with it?

Sandy

By: Tonya

Tonya — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 13:57:15 +0000

I appreciate all these great tips. Your website is a huge gift to me.
Since I’m using different pen surnames, I grabbed a domain with my first name only. tonyawrites. I hope that choice proves effective.
Not being tech savvy, I went with Wix for my website. They have a neat artificial intelligence program that will design your site based on your input. You can tweak and customize within the template.
Now, how to drive readers there….sigh. ?

By: Avril O'Reilly

Avril O'Reilly — Fri, 13 Jan 2017 14:36:08 +0000

In reply to Danielle. That's encouraging to hear, Danielle. Your site is a credit to you. It really does what it sets out to do. Very clear navigation. I think Wordpress has really worked hard to let everyone have a good website without having to learn coding. As writers we have enough to do besides writing. Anyone who provides a well-designed short-cut deserves credit. Thanks for sharing. Today I found a theme that I love. There are so many out there that I can see why people get bewildered. Only today did I experience what it feels like to get a crush on a theme! I think that it is wise to pick a theme that you will enjoy looking at day after day.

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Tue, 03 Jan 2017 16:04:34 +0000

In reply to Danielle. Great input, Danielle. Thanks. Sandy

By: Danielle

Danielle — Tue, 03 Jan 2017 15:45:15 +0000

I’m just going through a learning curve, but it seems to be working, I can’t say enough for wordpress and fiverr…Once you go paid it’s likely the easiest way to get a website running and easily upgrade – I toiled away with a more complex system for years but just couldn’t get updates done easily. WP is the best paid system. They have great designers, coders, artists, all the works and you deal direct.

By: Avril

Avril — Sat, 26 Nov 2016 11:33:16 +0000

In reply to Mark Chevalier.

Hi Mark,
Your site has a very clear mood and atmosphere. I think that all the different elements make sense together. The genre links them and so does the style of the site. I think you’ve made it very clear what you stand for.
Thanks for sharing,
Avril
p.s. Have you seen this site that Frequency made for Darren Shan?

http://www.darrenshan.com/

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 16:11:49 +0000

In reply to Cat Michaels. Thanks, Cat! Sandy

By: Cat Michaels

Cat Michaels — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 14:59:20 +0000

Thanks for posting, Avril and Sandra! I’m into year 3 with my author website. Absolutely agree to start with a free site, like Weebly, but then I upgraded and got my own domain name and email address (a must now as email providers discourage sending subscription newsletter posts from their domain). Building an author website is a slow, iterative process, but totally worthwhile. I am always looking for ways to notch up my website!

By: Liam Fitzgerald

Liam Fitzgerald — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 16:30:09 +0000

@Kathy Steinemann
Yes, sadly there are so many different scams related to domain registration. As Sandra said the best thing is to ignore those emails.

Another point that we didn’t get tome to discuss is the whole subject of responsive websites. If you use WordPress then most modern themes are already responsive but I have noticed that a lot of the cheap sitebuilders are still using non-responsive templates which is a complete fail in this day and age, particularly if you have a YA audience.