If you are trying to sell your books, here we’ll see how an author website builder with ecommerce capabilities is essential for your dream.
With the writer’s tools in these channels, you will be able to develop a well designed professional site.
Then, you can use it as a bookstore, and through it, you will be able to market your books to readers.
You can make it easy for your readers by adding online shopping features into your sites.
This gives you the chance to sell physical and digital copies of books or even other items like clothing.
This article focuses on different author website builders which have an intuitive interface along with easy and advanced e-commerce features so that an author can promote and sell their work.
Why Authors Need Ecommerce on Their Websites
Direct Reader Engagement: With ecommerce, authors are able to make their readers feel closer to them.
they allow them to get an understanding of the work as well as give them the opportunity to be part of the work.
Higher Profit Margins: By removing third parties from the equation, authors are able to fully profit from their sales since they sell only through their sites.
Personal Topic: Every author has a chance to build an online space that corresponds to their look, which is a great way to promote their brand.
Relevant Reader Information: Ecommerce offers platforms as well as applicable data for marketing campaigns based on their readers’ interest.
Unique Stuff To Be Offered: Authors can market their signed copies, special editions and merchandise.
This gives their customers a taste of exclusivity which influences them to buy and build their loyalty as a reader.
Key Features to Look for in an Author Website Builder with Ecommerce
1. Easy to Use
A comfortably designed interface is of great value for authors with no technological background.
They should not be forced to suffer trying to publish a website.
The best website builders are simple to understand, with a number of them offering a drag and drop feature for easy creation of websites.
This makes it possible for authors to design and edit their sites with zero coding or technical skills needed, hence making it available for all.
2. Ecommerce Tools
Core ecommerce tools are essential in the direction of useful management of sales.
Enable functions like:
Shopping cart feature: Customers can perform ninja moves of adding items and checking out with so much ease.
Payment gateways: Allow different types of payment methods (credit cards, PayPal, etc.) to suit the preferences of different customers.
Inventory management: Assists in the monitoring of stock levels, organization of products, and the management of orders.
3. SEO Capabilities
Strong SEO capabilities are important for increasing the presence of your books in search engines.
A proper author website builder should have:
—SEO friendly designs and the underlying code.
—Application for optimizing product pages such as management of metas and integration of keywords.
—Analytics for tracking traffic and viewing engagement metrics.
4. Customization Options
Customization is essential in building an author’s distinct brand.
The website builder should include:
—Templates that are already designed for use by authors.
—Possibilities of adjusting layout, colors, fonts and other aspects of design to the author’s flavor.
5. Integration with Email Marketing and Social Media
Email marketing services and social media integration enables authors to market their works and target audiences well.
Seek builders that enable to:
—Provide any of the email marketing tools or integration with big companies like Mailchimp sticks.
—Include social media platforms to attract people and increase traffic.
6. Future Expansion Possibilities
Authors’ specific requirements for their websites change as they advance in their careers.
So, a good author website creator needs to provide for expansion, enabling:
—New devices to be added as the time requires (for example, additional categories of products or sophisticated marketing facilities).
—Flexibility in the author’s audience size and in offering more titles other than just books.
Best eCommerce Builders For Authors’ Websites
a. Shopify
As an author’s website builder, Shopify is quite user friendly and allows anyone regardless of their background to make an eCommerce author website easily.
Of its many eCommerce features, the effective shopping cart, multiple payment options, and inventory control make it easier for authors to manage their websites.
Additionally, Shopify has many professionally designed website templates.
These are usually helpful for authors who wish to change the appearance of their websites.
Furthermore, to boost their book marketing campaigns, authors can take advantage of built in and integration tools provided by Shopify.
b. Wix
Thanks to Wix’s straightforward drag-and-drop editor, authors can design websites with minimum effort.
Because Wix integrates with online bookstores so well, adding a shopping cart and other required store elements is simple.
Wix also features pricing systems that suit different authors and a variety of templates that make it easy for brand designs to match the website’s appearance for a professional finish.
c. Squarespace
Authors who want to present their creations in a beautiful context will appreciate Squarespace since it offers a wide selection of design templates used by creative professionals.
According to the authors’ requirements, the eCommerce aspects of the platform assist them in selling books and other items.
Additionally, the authors are provided with embedded statistics and SEO capability which they help to ascertain how the website operates and implement changes where necessary.
Regardless of its aesthetics, Squarespace enables the authors to sell their works and market themselves effectively thanks to the eCommerce features integrated into the platform.
d. WordPress with WooCommerce
Authors who wish to do so are free to use their own templates which gives them a fair amount of leeway when creating an eCommerce-enabled site using WordPress and WooCommerce.
This pair complements each other perfectly as it is a site and one of its plug-ins that are highly customizable allowing for the addition of thousands of themes and plugins.
In addition WooCommerce also has basic inventory control, payment gateways and other relevant features necessary in eCommerce.
Being open source, WordPress allows for amendments to be made to web pages hosted on it to grow the pages with the enterprise in the future.
This growth aspect allows it to be most suitable for authors looking to target a wider audience and expand their range of products in future.
e. Olitt
Olitt has a quick and straightforward solution for writers looking for a low-cost eCommerce platform because there’s no requirement to spend a lot of money.
It is very effective for authors who wish to open an online shop as it takes very little time to set up, and the templates are already made.
Olitt collaborates with the necessary eCommerce instruments and payment solutions to enable authors to market books and brands easily.
It offers competitive pricing and simple features making it suitable for authors who are looking to start off their eCommerce business in a straightforward and affordable way.
Constructing Your Ecommerce Integrated Author Site
There are steps to be followed when creating your author website with ecommerce features.
Let’s go through the necessary steps so that your site serves as a great portfolio and a tool for selling things online.
Step 1: Decide Which Website Builder Caters for Your Requirements Best
Getting a suitable website builder is critical for your author branding and ecommerce.
You may consider the ones we mentioned above as they have different capabilities that are suited for authors.
Evaluate your level of expertise in technology, budget, and requirements such as ecommerce, customizations, etc., so as to get the right combination for your site.
Step 2: Pick A Template Or Theme That Reflects Your Author Brand That You Created Earlier On
After you have purchased a website builder, you can then go through the available templates, or themes.
Pick up templates that suit your writing hand, your style and custom designed templates that you would love to wear.
Since it is important that readers get to love you and always come back for more, make sure that the template you opt for is in line with your branding across all platforms which you have built.
Step 3: Populate The Site With The Required Pages
The following pages should be present on the author website:
Home: this is where you tell the readers who you are and what is the latest in your basket.
About: you would include a brief biography about yourself and how you started writing.
Shop: Create a standalone page where your clients can purchase your books and other products.
Blog: Post about your writing work, any updates about the book, or any appropriate information to grab the attention of readers.
Contact: Add screens or forms so that readers can contact you for any questions or collaboration opportunities.
Step 4: Setting Up the Store.
Install your online store with the products you want to sell which include your books and book related products.
In addition make sure you:
—First of all, Upload assets that cover images of the materials that you are marketing.
—Make content that allows writing, particularly concerning the use of effective and working relevant strategies.
—Pay by card or through paypal.
—Set up shipping options for selling the said products.
Step 5: Optimize for SEO and Mobile Responsiveness
To increase visibility in search engines, optimize your website for SEO.
This includes:
Using relevant keywords throughout your site content.
Optimizing page titles, meta descriptions, and image alt texts.
Additionally, ensure that your website is mobile-responsive so that it looks great on all devices, as many users will access it via smartphones or tablets.
Step 6: Announce Your Website to The World!
Once satisfied, providing all the checks required and any remedial actions taken floating off the website is the next step.
Start marketing your ad using the following strategies:
—Share it on social media platforms.
—Send out an email announcement to your mailing list.
—Consider running promotions or discounts to attract initial visitors.
Marketing using this and few other ad strategies would bear a degree of results hence can be implemented.
Distributing information about the advancements on social media networks.
Conclusion
The twenty-first century is characterized with technological advancement and growing use of the e-commerce platforms.
Given the current trend of self publishing, having a website is exceedingly important to an author seeking to reach their readers and sell more of their books.
Creating such an online identity exposes the author’s work especially in functions of the target market and book sales without having to depend on the conventional outlets.
Today it is easy for authors to create an identity for themselves as there are a vast number of options.
If you want to open up an online bookstore and leverage your writing business, now is the ideal moment with an author website builder with eCommerce .