Author Website Options

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Welcome back. If it's your first time here, be sure you poke around. I have tons of tips, tricks, and advice for authors. Today, we'll be talking about website options. I know a lot of you already have a site, so today is about where you might want to go to level up or start anew. We'll also be talking a bit about design, so hang in there with me.

Ready? Grab that notepad and a cup of coffee, and let's dive on in.

We'll start with: Hosting Options

Wix

Wix is the host I use, and I find it simple because it's an add, edit, drag WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. It can be expensive if you opt for the higher tier packages, but most folks need the Pro plan. That gives you enough storage to upload book cover images and link them unless you have 5k+ books. If you want a shop, it costs more, and if you want an email, that's monthly (they have no way to bill it yearly) on top of the site cost. They have some cool features I really enjoy, like the slider on my homepage. Be sure you catch them on a sale weekend because you can get a whole year for half off.

WordPress

This is one I have zero experience with, but I did try WP one time for my blog, and I found all the little apps and buttons crazy confusing. That being said, I do know several people who have beautiful WP sites, and the prices are fantastic. Not a ton of storage space, but there again, do you have 5k+ books? No.

GoDaddy

I've used their builder in the past for clients, and it's similar to the one on the Wix platform. Their prices go up fast depending on what you want and if you're a renewing customer though, so keep that in mind. It's extra for a custom domain (like anywhere else), but their basic plan includes a website chat that syncs with your inbox. That's pretty cool!

SquareSpace

I've built a site here, and their interface is complicated, IMO. It's not the drag-and-drop editor most sites give you, but the pricing seems pretty fair, and from what I hear from others (don't quote me on this), they do a bit of advertising on your behalf. I believe that's only about a Google rank, but I'm not sure. I didn't end up moving forward with them because of the interface, but their pricing isn't terrible if you pay by the year. Something to consider.

Author Websites by BookBub

This is NEW. Now, because I'm me, I'm all about being able to brand myself as I'd like to. I did dive in and check it out because that's what I do, but I did find a few issues in the beta version: I could NOT get it to load all my books OR allow me to highlight more than one on the homepage. Their editor is clunky and hard to figure out right now. Do I see a lot of promise with upcoming features? Yes, I do. Price wise, they're amazing, but I believe that's because it's still in beta. I've been giving them feedback on my experience, so I'm hoping they take it and run with it. It's free to try, so if you're looking for something new, check it out.

Now we'll dive into: Design

First of all, you need to brand yourself with colors and an icon of some kind. This can be a logo, a wordmark, or a lettermark, but it needs to be consistent across all of your everything. When you stumble upon me elsewhere on the web, you'll know it's authentic because of my color scheme and look and feel. Any host that won't allow me to customize that is off my list right away. You can think about how you want to do that by reading my free PDF. You can download and print it from here.

Keep it clean and consistent. Assure people know they've gotten the real you when they come upon your page.

There's a second section in that PDF that goes over websites. It tells you everything you need to know, but if you don't feel like wading through the other stuff, I also posted about it here.

Because of course I did. :)

Printing it, however, will give you somewhere to write down all your observations as you go through the process.

Did you learn anything from this post? I strive to bring you all the most relevant, up-to-date information I can, so I hope I'm doing a good job!

Thanks for reading, and if you find yourself interested in all the stuff I do here, visit my Linktr.ee to follow me on socials. I do try to always share my posts there.

Well, that's all for today, folks!

Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Godaddy Promo Codes

Good morning, people of the blogosphere! You've heard me talk about getting a yourname.com if you're an author and today I'm going to talk about one of the places you can register, Godaddy.com, and some of the awesome promo codes available to you. So, buckle in and let's get going!

NaNoWriMo is upon us in its fifth day (oh my) and many of you will be producing your first novel. When I created my posts examining your web presence, I talked about the reason you need a website and how it should look similar to the other items in your online arsenal of presence. You might want to consider a website to promote that awesome novel you just wrote.

Godaddy is one of the places you can register a .com, .org, etc... There are promo codes you can use to save money on your domain registration. Promo codes = less cash out of your pocket to grow your online presence and get more attention.

As you can see from the promo codes listed below, you can register yourname.com for $7.99. That's a pretty good deal. Registering my own domain cost me $14.95 per year.

Anyway, I urge you to check out these promo codes and get to registering yourname.com. This is actually a pretty good deal. You can use the links below to navigate.

Godaddy.com promo codes:

Register .Com domains for 7.99$

Save 10% off your order-no minumum-

Save 20% off hosting orders

Save 5$ off your order 30$ or more

Save 10$ off your order 50$ or more

Save 15% off your order 75$ or more

Web Hosting from just $1.99 per month for 3 months! Plus, GoDaddy now offers unlimited bandwidth on all hosting plans!

These codes are valid every time. For more codes check http://www.domainpromocodes.com/coupons/godaddy/

If you're already a proud Godaddy member, you can use these codes to renew:
Godaddy .Com domain renewal promo code
Godaddy .Net renewal promo code
Godaddy .Co renewal promo code

You can also find Godaddy on Facebook and Twitter @godaddy

This is a sponsored post. All opinions remain mine. If you want to know more about following FTC guidelines when promoting a product or service, come on back Wednesday. I've found some useful information for you.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Static vs Dynamic

Happy day, good people of the blogosphere! Today I'd like to talk with you all about phenomenons called static elements and dynamic elements. Remember last week on lOOk at YoUr xXx when I talked about websites? This is the answer I promised you. Grab that pen and notebook you keep handy when you visit 'round here and let's get going, shall we?

Static elements are elements that don't change on your blog or website no matter what page you're on. Elements like navigation bars, background images, or indicator icons.

Why don't those elements change? Because if your navigation links jump all over the screen, it'll cause your reader a headache trying to keep up with where they are on your site and how they should return to the page they were on five clicks ago. KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) your visitor every time. You have less than ten seconds to hook the average web surfer, make the most of it. Don't lose them after you catch their attention.

You want them to stay and browse around a bit, right?

Dynamic elements are those that do change page to page. These elements would be things like images, text, information, or navigation relevant to the topic.

Why do these elements change? Because each page of your website should desire to impart different information to your visitor.

For example:
I click on your button about your upcoming releases from your home page. The home page button, new release button, contact me button, buy my books button, and/or bio button don't move so I can visit a new page without back-browsing or hunting down the menu because it jumped to the bottom of the screen from the top. These are static elements.

On the bottom of your upcoming releases page, you may have a menu that appears for just that set of information. Book A, Book B, Book C, etc... These are dynamic elements. They won't appear on any other page but the ones nested under upcoming releases. They should, however, appear at the bottom of every page that talks about an upcoming release.

Each page within upcoming releases will have content. Either a blurb about the book, a release date, or a cover image. Dynamic elements.

Your background should be a static element. Don't have me looking at bunnies on the homepage and an axe murderer on the upcoming releases page. I'll probably leave thinking you're a schitzo and not buy your book.

Last, but not least, have a theme. If you write romance novels, your website should reflect that. I should get a sense of romance when I visit. If you write horror, be scary. If you write children's books, be fun and whimsical. You see my theme, it's just a balance of colors that don't instill fear. I write fiction: Historical, fantasy, paranormal, middle grade. If you visit my website, it looks like my blog. You know you've found the Write Jo Michaels.

Look here for theme examples: THEME EXAMPLES

I hope this helps some. Question of the day: Have you ever designed a website or blog? Have you found these elements giving you a headache?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

lOOk at YoUr wEbSitE

Hello, lovely people of the blogosphere! This week will be a designer's look at what you're doing on different platforms and will be called lOOk at YoUr xXx. Follow along and learn! Today I'd like to talk to you all about your website. If you don't own yourname.com, you should. There are a lot of easy and free website building platforms out there, just Google it.

If you have a website, let's look at things that you're currently doing you might want to change. Grab that pencil and paper and let's get going! If you don't, read through anyway and take notes on what to do and what not to do when you design one.

Examine the following:

1. How long does it take your page to load?
2. Do you have obnoxious music blaring?
3. Would someone who didn't know what your site was about be able to tell in just a few seconds?
4. Is your page interactive or nicely colored?
5. Is your page easy to read?
6. Can anyone navigate easily?
7. Contact information easy to find?
8. What is your ultimate goal?
9. More than two fonts?
10. Do you know what page of your site you're on at a glance?
11. Can you get to another page without back-browsing?
12. Does your visitor have to scroll at all? 

Now answer these with your observations:

1. Can you remove clutter or downsize items so they load faster?
2. Is that Beethoven's 9th really necessary?
3. If no tagline, where can you put one to tell a visitor why they're on your page?
4. What interactivity can you add or colors can you change?
5. Do you really need a blue, purple, or red font on a black background?
6. Are visitors hitting a splash page or your main site when they click (do they have to click again to get to the actual site)?
7. Can you add dynamic links to make navigation easier? Where?
8. If someone wanted to contact you, how would they? Can you make it easier?
9. Ultimate goal is a sale or a return visit?
10. What two fonts are your favorite (one serif and one sans serif, please)?
11. Think about highlighting the page the person is on in the menu.
12. Can you resize elements to eliminate the scroll?

Try these tips to fix those common errors:

1. Resize your images to 72dpi. All of them. Use thumbnails when you can.
2. Delete the music track. A lot of people listen to music as they browse and will shut your page down quickly if it interferes with their mojo.
3. Change the title and add a tagline. If you're an author, tell folks this is your official author site and who you are or why they should poke around/buy your books.
4. Change your fonts so they are either all the same or there are only TWO. More than one in the same family looks like a mistake. So, choose either a serif and a sans serif, a script and a serif, or a script and a sans serif. But be consistent!
5. Watch your colors. Try for no more than three plus black (headline color, text color, link color, visited link color). Be consistent. If links are in blue, make them all appear in blue.
6. Highlight the page title in the menu when a person is on that page of your site. If they're on the contact page, it should be showing up a different color than the other page links.
7. You'll have page links that either take you to a splash page for additional content or directly to the first page of the additional content. Add some dynamic links here so folks can navigate easily. I'll go into the difference of static and dynamic elements and how to use them in a post next week.
8. Is your ultimate goal a book purchase? Make it easy for folks to get from point A to point B and buy your book. A follow? Give them an easy way to follow with only a click or two. 
9. Everything should show up without scrolling. Resize everything you can and leave nothing hanging off the edges of sidebars or content areas.
10. One bonus tip: Use the X and Y axis numbers so things line up. You'll be surprised how much better it makes your site look. 

Overall, your site should be clean, not need ten minutes to load your content, state clearly who you are, not blare music at your visitor, and be easy to navigate without the use of the back button. KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid) your visitor every time and they'll be happy as larks and want to return often.

Find more tips like these in my book The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book and take your future to new heights. It's just $2.99 on Amazon. Don't want to buy one? Enter my great giveaway to win one! Three are available.

Question of the day: Did you find any of these common errors on your site? Did you take steps to change your content in some way?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo