Setting up your website

Use Blogger or WordPress to set up your site 

Both are free. Blogger (shown here) is easier, but sometime clunky. WordPress, I'm told, has more finesse. They basically work in the same way.

1. Choose a name for your website. Give this some thought before you jump in. The site will tell you if the address is available.

Whenever possible, use your name. You are your brand. If someone else has your name, add something to it (for example: authorJoanSmith).

Note: if you have a domain name (JoanSmith.com), you will be able to use it for your website address. I suggest hiring a Tech Wizz to do this.  

Decide on a design. 

Keep it simple in both design and content. Keep in mind that dark backgrounds are hard to read.

Click on the Design tab. 

• Note the things other authors have on their websites and blogs. 
• Experiment with widgets.

Add pages: 

• Click "Edit Pages."
• Add pages. Here are the basic pages (i.e. tabs) you should include:
  
  

  Home page (a page for headlines and links to all the other pages)

  Your biography 

  Your books

  Your blog (if you have one) 

  Events 

  Contacts: how to contact you (to be put on a newsletter mailing list, for example, or give a reading), your agent, your publicist...)

  Some authors profit from having a page specifically for book clubs.

Play and explore. 

Get used to how the site works before you go public. To make it private:

• Click the Settings tab.
• Click "only blog author." 
• Be sure to change this to "anyone" when you are ready to go public.