Having a website especially if you are an author is very important today. A website makes it easy for the readers to access all the required information about an author including their background and any other additional details. It is more than just promoting one’s business; it is a source of bringing people together, sharing knowledge, and marketing books effectively. A variety of websites are available for authoring, and the best part is authors can create great-looking websites that are easy to navigate, practical, and represent their craft perfectly.
Even experienced authors may struggle to choose the best online platform for author websites because of the numerous alternatives available. Every platform has its own set of features, pricing, and customization options. In this blog, we will discuss the 8 best online platforms for authors’ websites including their features, advantages, disadvantages, and particular suitability for authors in detail. This guide is ideal for anyone from experienced authors to new authors who wish to showcase their work to the world.
Why Authors Need a Website
Establishing a professional author website is an essential requirement. Nowadays, readers are often found looking online for details about a book before they buy it. An effective website indicates the seriousness of an author. An author provides a page where he/she introduces himself, explains how they write, and the books that have been published. This professional display enables the authors to gain the trust of the potential audience as well as raise their ranking in the search engine.
Additionally, an author website allows an author’s readers to communicate with each other easily. Authors can promote contact with readers through newsletters, blogs, and social networks to inform readers all the time about new books, book signing, and other things. This relationship creates a sense of belonging and loyalty to readers. Also, showing books on an interesting site enables an author to offer samples, reviews, or anything else that would help make the book more attractive to the reader.
Key Features to Look For in an Author Website Platform
There are numerous elements to take note of when looking for an author website builder. It’s important to emphasize user-friendliness first. In my opinion, authors should choose a platform that has an easy-to-understand interface and requires no tech-savvy skills. With the use of a drag-and-drop builder, content can be created and managed easily even without coding skills.
Many other features need to be included to help showcase the author’s individuality. Furthermore, purchasing or custom designing a template should be made possible so that the website is consistent with the author’s genre and personal preferences. Moreover, including the ability to make direct sales for those who want to buy books directly on the website is also necessary. It is beneficial for both authors and readers when there are authors’ payment systems included.
Finally, if an author’s website has built-in SEO tools and analytics, it will be a huge plus. These tools help promote the book and comprehend the level of user interaction on the site, which can help the author improve his marketing methods in the future.
The 8 Best Online Platforms for Author Websites
1. WordPress
For an author’s website, perhaps the most used and adaptable platform is WordPress because it has so many plugin options. An author looking for a particular look can select from thousands of themes designed for authors or they may prefer to have a custom theme designed for the author. It also works for blogs, portfolios, and e-commerce such as through WooCommerce plugins.
Possibly the most significant drawback of WordPress is that it can be daunting for first-time users who are not familiar with constructing websites or managing them. But it does pack a punch as there is an impressive support network with several users offering various video tutorials and forums to help women authors build websites. However, in general, it is great for those authors who want to genuinely establish an online presence on multiple platforms.
2. Wix
Wix with its drag-and-drop interface is a website builder that caters to authors regardless of their programming skills. There are countless templates for logos and websites on Wix. There is a clear purpose of the logos — to be able to promote the authors’ brand. Moreover, authors can include features such as forms for getting in touch, links to social networks, and galleries, where photos of their works will be uploaded.
As of recently, Wix has integrated e-commerce features where authors can easily sell their books directly on their websites. Books are sold on the websites owned by authors. However, while providing great capabilities for site design, it’s also true that some users are going to be limited in scalability as their needs grow with time. All things considered, Wix is best suited for authors looking for ease of use and design.
3. Squarespace
Hopefully, Wix will manage to improve as their premium plans are quite overpriced for what the service offers. While offering more or less the same services as Wix, Squarespace’s entire focus is on aesthetics and seamless yet appealing templates making it ideal for authors aiming to create a clean professional vision without the need of messing around with too much design. Websites created on Squarespace also offer basic e-commerce services making it easier to sell an author’s book.
Moreover, with strong design elements, Squarespace also comes with great search engine optimization tools. In most cases, the services offered are worth the pricing. However, some authors may decide to not go with Squarespace as they do find the costs more expensive than other platforms.
4. Weebly
To create an author’s website quickly, Weebly allows the use of multiple customizable templates on their website which makes it ideal for beginner writers as attaching important features such as book listings and contact forms becomes an easy task. With an integrated e-commerce solution embedded into the website, selling books directly from the site becomes an easy task with Weebly.
Even though it may not have as many advanced features as places such as WordPress or Squarespace, Weebly’s uncomplicated design is ideal for authors who do not prefer to have complex software functions, thus, allowing the use of their embedded software complexity that are available. In simpler words, the Weebly interface is very straightforward and allows the transacting of all sorts through its website.
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5. Pub Site
Pub Site is a perfect which is specifically designed for authors who want to build professional websites with very little hassle and allows writers to not only create their website but include parts of their work and directly connect it with integrating buying sources. Other than allowing the sale of the book directly, Pub Site allows the showcasing of all aspects of the writer’s work from excerpts of the book to videos promoting the work.
A monthly fee of $19.99 is quite economical as with this fee, writers are granted hosting services and writers can get what they need with only minimum tension, combined with its simple-to-use interface and direct websites without extra complicated features.
6. Medium
Medium is both a blogging site and a social network that enables authors to write stories with audiences that are willing to read various types of content types on a tilt. Although not commonly considered an author website platform due to not being able to customize to the extent others on this list are, Medium does offer good penetration to readers enabling authors connectivity through the community.
Participating in Medium Partner Program Authors can earn with their content while marketing it on Medium’s audience base which is preferably for those who are more inclined towards marketing ideas instead of products on their websites.
Read also: 7 Best Website Builders for Selling Books Online (Sell Direct to Readers)
7. Blogger
Out of the various platforms available nowadays, Blogger still is one of the easiest interface to use which still make this popular amongst writers wishing to start a blog without creating a planned layout or struggling with the design aspect of this easy page as other platforms on this list do so well in managing.
Although it is less expressive than WordPress or Squarespace when it comes to advanced or further customizations bloggers are still applicable to all ideally recommended for author page purposes not immediately available from other pages for beginning writers.
8. SiteGround (for self-hosted WordPress)
Let me just say from the get-go that SiteGround is an extremely reliable hosting service specifically designed for self-hosted WordPress sites—making it perfect if you combine its usability with the features offered by … WordPress! When it comes to technical support, it is available for all their customers, whatever the time of day or night it is, so they get answering services even when their site sees a traffic jam on the author’s websites!
Of course, SiteGrond does have an additional set of costs that are incurred especially where hosting is involved as opposed to any of the freely available alternatives discussed above but the advantages that it does offer more than compensate for those expenses, especially when you take into account the expected growth opportunities that are readily available in the infamously cut-throat literary marketplace of today!
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Conclusion
It is safe to say that the success of any author’s website relies heavily on the hosting platform which is why romanoff.io, siteground.com, godaddy.com, and other platforms are recommended to authors so that they leave a mark on the digital world. Every platform has its own set of features that aim to solve the different challenges writers have to deal with daily, such as branding through easy-to-edit themes, engaging readers with updated and optimized channels, or countless other approaches!
To avoid making hasty generalizations and overlooking a better option, authors should carefully assess their needs to choose from the numerous platforms, and rest assured since writing is an art—authors should be able to build enticing places where readers would be willing to explore countless worlds beyond just the printed pages.