Premium Deep Dive: Author Websites Part Two

Welcome back, authors! This is the second part of our Deep Dive into author websites—if you haven’t read the first, do yourself a favor and click here.

Do you need to? No. I’m not your dad; I can’t tell you what you’re supposed to be doing. But I will say that the first part of this Deep Dive covered the basics of author websites: why we need one, how to determine your audience and goals, the essential pages, and how to get started.

If you were following along (aka did your homework), you already have a barebones website, at least in draft form.

In this Deep Dive, we’re taking it up a notch. We will look at how you can leverage your author website to attract new readers, convert visitors to fans, and make more money (if that’s your goal).

This article is a big one, so this Deep Dive’s downloadable is a website cheat sheet based on what we’re talking about. It will help you dial down on what you want your website to do for you without searching through this entire article. You can download it here.

Let’s dive in.

Remember Your Website’s Purpose

If there was one thing I wanted you to take away from our last Deep Dive, it’s that your website only does what you intend for it to do. Everything you put on it must be tailored to a particular audience and built with your goal in mind.

What you’re about to read will sound shiny and fun and exciting. It will present you with many possibilities and get your imagination running wild with ideas.

That’s awesome, truly, but try to keep your website’s purpose in mind as you read through here. Your time is precious, so let’s use it where it’s most effective, right?

If you can keep your site’s purpose in mind, you’re already on your way to crafting an effective author website.

Website Content Creation

You’ve probably heard of “content creation” before, but it might sound like an ambiguous umbrella term. “Content” in terms of the Internet (and our purposes) is anything you create for distribution.

Technically, the books you’re writing are “content,” but not the type we’re talking about for this Deep Dive. We’re more interested in:

• Your website copy (aka what you write on each page)
• Your sales copy (what you’re using to sell your books!)
• Your blog (if you have one)
• Visual elements like videos and photos

You’re an author, so writing well comes effortlessly to you. But writing website copy isn’t the same as writing a novel. So let’s chat about it.

Writing Compelling Copy

Website copy is a lot more concise than what we usually write. Visitors typically stay on a web page for 10-20 seconds. That means you have as little as 10 seconds to grab their attention, so we need to be punchy and effective.

People spend years and a lot of money learning how to do this effectively and dedicate entire careers to it, so don’t stress if you aren’t writing like a professional website copywriter. That said, here are some tips to make your online home base more effective:

Use reader-centric language - Use “you” to make your copy feel personal and direct. You can even make readers feel like part of the journey by offering to “Join [character name] on their adventure.”

Stay on brand - Ensure your copy is consistent with your author brand across all pages. You need to dial in on what makes you and your writing unique. Tailor your tone to fit your genre, too; it would be weird to have fun, childish verbiage if you’re a horror author.

Focus on formatting - Use headings, subheadings, bullet points, and short paragraphs to make your content easily scannable. The punchier, the better. Incorporate images, videos, and graphics to break up text.

Highlight social proof - Don’t be scared to use words other people have written about you! Include quotes from readers, reviewers, or other authors praising your work. If you hit bestseller status in an Amazon category, “bestselling author” goes a long way in exciting readers.

Check out other websites - The best way to understand a skill you haven’t mastered yet is to check in on people who have. Look at websites (especially non-author ones) to see what catches your eye or turns you away.

Let’s dial it in, though, and talk about some specific pages or elements of your website.

Homepage Copy

Since your homepage will likely receive the most traffic, we want to make sure you get this one right. It’s also important to understand that what’s “right” or what works changes over time as website visitors change, but here are some evergreen pieces of advice.

Be clear and concise - Again, websites aren’t the place for pages of text. Visitors should immediately understand who you are and what you write when they land on your site. Use short, impactful sentences. Every word should serve a purpose.

Engage your audience - Start with a bold hero image or header that grabs your audience’s attention. Use language that reflects what they’re looking for in a novel and incorporate your author voice and style to make it uniquely you.

To be clear, this requires you to understand who your audience is and how you want to convey yourself. That requires some work: investigating genre norms and conventions, creeping other author websites who write similar stuff, and detailing your own style.

Show them value - Remember, we have 10 seconds. Why should a prospective reader hang around? You need to quickly communicate the value of exploring your website and what someone will gain from staying. Mention exclusive content, first looks at new releases, or insider updates.

Calls to Action (CTA) Copy

Calls to action are likely the shortest but most important things you can write on your website. You can’t make them complicated by asking someone to read five lines of text, but these little pieces of content will turn website visitors into potential readers (and thus customers).

Before you can write a CTA, though, you need to understand its purpose. Are you asking them to join your newsletter? Buy a book? Contact you for an interview? This all relates to your website’s larger purpose (notice how the word keeps popping up?), which we established in Part One of this Deep Dive series. 

Once you have that figured out, you can use the following tips to craft a compelling call to action.

Don’t beat around the bush - Be direct and specific with your CTA. Use strong, compelling verbs like discover, join, explore, or read. Make it clear exactly what the person will get by clicking on your CTA, like “Join my newsletter to get a free short story.” or “Confront the monsters under your bed with my free horror bestiary download.”

Create urgency - You can create urgency in two ways. First, you can limit the time something is available or make it feel limited. Perhaps you’re giving away the first book in your series until the next one comes out in a month. The word “now” creates a sense of timed urgency, even without an actual deadline. Second, you can create urgency through scarcity with things like, “Only 20 signed copies available.”

Please avoid being misleading, though. Saying there’s only a limited number of something or creating a deadline just to have a deadline is morally iffy and risks potential readers losing trust in you if they discover your ploy.

Think about placement - Place CTAs in prime areas, like the top right of your homepage, at the end of blog posts, or in a sticky header. Use contrasting colors, different fonts, or stylistic choices like a different type of button to make a CTA stand out.

About/Author Bio Copy

Many readers want a personal connection or look at the authors they love, so a great author bio or about page can help turn visitors into readers or fans. 

Your bio should combine personal insight with professional highlights. Share your personal journey, inspirations, and unique quirks that make you relatable to readers, but include any notable achievements, awards, and publications to establish the credibility someone needs to make a purchase.

Striking a balance between these two elements isn’t easy, and a bio is a spot where your storytelling and longer-form writing can work wonders. Don’t be afraid to get outside feedback and iterate on your bio.

It’s not the most important thing on your website, but it can be an effective page if you’re willing to do the work. 

Book Descriptions

Don’t be surprised if you see “Writing Book Descriptions” as a future Deep Dive because they are deceptively difficult. When it comes to book descriptions on your website, you have some more wiggle room than a back-cover synopsis, plus you can play more with images and formatting.

For now, I want to focus on how we can craft a book description either on its own page or on a page with your other books. Please note, however, that you should only group all your books on one page if your catalog is less than three books or they’re in a series (and even then, you’ll want to gear this towards a hybrid of a series and book one description).

On this page, you’ll want:

• A strong hook: Something captivating that will grab your reader’s attention
• A brief summary: The main plot points without any spoilers
• Character focus: Work in your main characters and their motivations—this is why people will care, after all
• Unique selling points: Emphasize what makes your book unique—genre, themes, setting, or writing style
• Call to Action: Once you sink your hooks into them, give them a clear way to get your book

Remember that these aren’t necessarily consecutive; a hook will come first, but your summary should include your characters and unique selling points.

Get feedback, too! Ask people to view it from the lens of a prospective buyer rather than your friend or someone who has already read the book.

Blog Writing

Finally, we get to something that most people think of when they hear “website content creation.”

Before I give you some blog writing tips, I’m going to draw you back to that little thing we call purpose and remind you of something I shared in the last Deep Dive.

Blogs are a great way to appeal to Google and the SEO gods. Showing regular updates on your website, hitting search keywords, and generating organic traffic is great (and we’ll touch on SEO in a moment). But only if you’re doing it for the right reasons.

In the last Deep Dive, I told you I started a blog on my own author website. I was cranking out three or more articles a week on the craft of writing—everything from story structure to character development to analyzing folklore stories. Google started repaying my efforts and sending traffic my way (and I still get a surge of traffic every holiday season for my articles on Christmas-esque folklore).

Hundreds, even thousands, of people would come through my website every month. I was on top of the world!

But I didn’t sell any books. Actually, I can attribute a single book sale to my blog traffic.

All that to say, a blog can serve to be a search engine attractor. It can generate organic traffic. But that organic traffic might not be the kind that turns into readers if you aren’t intentional with your writing.

On the other hand, you can use a blog to give your readers a glimpse into you and your writing. Use it as a differentiator that leverages some SEO—a best-of-both-worlds situation. This is where I think most authors should aim unless they intend to become an authority figure or make money off something like writing tips and coaching.

Here are some things to keep in mind while writing a blog, especially if you haven’t before: 

Be consistent - A blog is great for giving readers a reason to swing back around even when you don’t have a book to promote. Posting consistency helps with this (and SEO if that’s what you’re going for). Even writing a post regularly once a month is better than varied, shorter gaps in between.

Aim for variety - If you are writing to give readers a glimpse into your life, books, or writing, consider a variety of content. Mix up your posts with behind-the-scenes content, character interviews, cover reveals, book updates, and personal anecdotes.

Encourage engagement - If you’re willing to moderate and respond to them, activate the comments in your blog. Include questions or prompts at the end of a blog post to get people active in the comments. The more engagement you can get, the more likely you are to turn a visitor into a reader and a reader into a fan.

SEO - Even if you aren’t using your blog specifically for SEO purposes, it doesn’t hurt to know the basics and get those organic views when possible. More on that shortly.

Visuals - A blog post that’s only text is tough to read and easy to click away from. Enhance yours with images and videos to make them more engaging, appealing, and easier on the eyes. Speaking of…

Visual Elements

Writing isn’t the only content you should include on your website. As we just covered, you also need visuals to increase engagement and make your website less painful to the eyes.

That doesn’t mean you can just slap a bunch of photos and videos on your website and hope they make sense. 

Images

When uploading photos onto your website, ensure they’re high quality. I’m not just talking about their content but their resolution, too. Your site will be viewed on screens as small as a smart phone and large as a TV.

The types of images you upload depend on where they’re going and what they’re for. 

If the budget allows, high-quality author photos are great for establishing your credibility and your brand.

Book covers are an obvious choice for showing off your work or doing a cover reveal. Tools like Book Brush are easy ways to make professional-looking images with your covers with little technical knowledge. 

In your blog, photos from events, your writing setup, days in your life, or images relevant to your writing content are all handy. Just make sure you have permission or a license to use third-party images. Look for CC0 licenses to use images for free.

Any time you upload a photo, though, think about consistency. Maintaining a consistent style, quality, and vibe will help reinforce your author voice and brand.

Videos

Very few authors have the budget to have professional videos done regularly. Instead, you should focus on video content that either promotes your work or shares that glimpse behind the curtain for your fans.

This typically boils down to:

1. Book trailers: Promotional videos you make or commission to give readers an engaging taste of your story in a visual medium.
2. Interviews: Share interviews you’ve done on podcasts or online shows. This doubles as both engagement and a credibility builder.
3. Behind the scenes content: Offer behind-the-scenes looks at your writing process, book launches, or events to create a personal connection with readers.

SEO and Discoverability

As I said, most authors should use their websites to engage with fans, build their brands, sell their books, grow email lists, or promote themselves to an agent or media personality.

But if you want to position yourself as a writing expert or really lean into the strengths of SEO, you can do that, too. I can’t tell you how to live your life (nor do I know your goals!), so you do you.

I also can’t promise SEO best practices have remained unchanged since I wrote this in June 2024 since Google and the other internet giants change their algorithms constantly.

What I can do, however, is provide you with some advice you can use on your website—whether you want to sell books or share writing tips with the masses—that have proven to be fairly evergreen.

Basic SEO Practices

To clarify, search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your content for search engines, especially Google. Many online businesses and brands need to leverage SEO for organic traffic (aka traffic you don’t need to pay for ads to attract).

It’s a long-term strategy that produces proven results.

It’s also a rabbit hole you can dive into and not come up for a long time. 

For us authors, this sort of discoverability can be helpful in finding new readers, but it’s not nearly as effective for us as it might be for a company like, say, Dabble.

Dabble, for example, is a tool and community for writers. Writers have questions about their craft, so they Google those questions. Folks like Abi and I write articles on DabbleU that answer those questions. Google connects us all together.

The issue with SEO for authors is that most of our readers, since we’re writing fiction, aren’t asking specific questions we can answer. Thus, there is less of a direct bridge between us and them. 

That’s not to say SEO isn’t worth considering, but you’ll get less of a return on your time investment than a non-fiction author writing multiple articles a week would.

If you want to capitalize on SEO as much as possible, though (because it can get you new readers), let’s quickly chat about how you can leverage your website to do that.

Keyword Research and Implementation

SEO starts with keywords, which are the particular terms people will use to find the answers they’re looking for.

You can then use these keywords in your website copy, especially on your blog, to tell Google, “Hey, I’m talking about those things people are looking for.” Do it enough, with good enough content, and search engines will start making those connections.

Here are the three basic things you need to know about using keywords for SEO:

Identify keywords - Here’s where you start. Identify keywords relevant to your books and author brand. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or Ubersuggest to find keywords your target audience might be searching for.

Use long-tail keywords - Focus on long-tail keywords, which are more specific phrases that potential readers might use. These often have less competition and can attract more targeted traffic (as a dark fantasy author, I might focus on “best dark fantasy books for adults”).

Integrate them seamlessly - Naturally integrate these keywords into your website content, including page titles, headings, meta descriptions, and body text. Avoid keyword stuffing—shoving in keywords for the sake of loading a page up with them—as that can negatively impact readability and SEO.

On-Page SEO Techniques

Keywords will show up everywhere on your website, so understanding them is the first step. After that, we need to consider the different tricks we can use on our various web pages to further enhance our SEO efforts.

Do you need to do these on your author website? Only if you want to make use of SEO and natural discoverability. However, some of the following techniques are great best practices to consider, especially if web design isn’t your forte.

Title tags and meta descriptions - Include title tags and meta descriptions for each page. Title tags denote a term or word as the title of a web page (this will likely be a field to fill out in a website builder if you’re using it), and a meta description is a short summary you provide that fills out that little blurb in a Google search. These should include your primary keywords and a clear, enticing summary of the page content.

Header tags (H1, H2, H3) - Use header tags to structure your content, especially blog articles. H1 should be reserved for the page’s main title, while H2 and H3 can be used for subheadings. This helps search engines understand the hierarchy and main topics of your content.

Alt text for images - Add descriptive alt text to all images on your site to describe what the image is. I don’t consider this one optional for anyone as this not only helps with SEO but also makes your site more accessible to visually impaired visitors.

Internal linking - Use internal links to connect related content on your website. This helps keep visitors on your site longer and allows search engines to crawl your site more effectively.

URL structure - For the love of all writing, please ensure your URLs are clean and descriptive. Avoid using random strings of numbers or letters. Instead, use readable words that reflect the page content (think yourauthorname.com/best-dark-fantasy-books).

A Quick Touch on Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Most of those techniques are decipherable, but title tags and meta descriptions are usually terms you haven’t heard of before if you’ve never built a website.

So I want to give you a few more words dedicated to demystifying them:

Title tags: The title tag should be concise (50-60 characters) and include your primary keyword (dark fantasy, romance, best short story anthologies, etc.). It appears in search engine results as the clickable headline.

Meta descriptions: Write meta descriptions (150-160 characters) that accurately summarize the page’s content and include a call to action. This snippet appears below the title in search results and can influence click-through rates.

Whenever you’re writing either, ensure your tags and descriptions are relevant to the content on each page. Misleading descriptions can lead to high bounce rates (people clicking off your site without taking further action) and negatively impact your SEO.

Content Marketing

The other way to capitalize on SEO is through content marketing. This is (kind of) different from the content creation we talked about before. Here’s how we can differentiate them for our purposes:

Content creation refers to the things you write, post, and share on your website to engage visitors and drive them to a call to action.

Content marketing is producing content tuned for SEO to increase your visibility across the Internet and attract new visitors.

Content marketing requires content creation, but content creation doesn’t mean you need to worry about content marketing.

When it comes to your website, content marketing is going to come from your blog. Here are the things you need to keep in mind when using an author website for content marketing.

Find your niche - A scattershot approach to content marketing isn’t going to yield you good results. Instead, drill down on a niche that you’ll put your efforts towards, likely genre- or (better yet) subgenre-related. The more specific you can get, the more you’ll stand out from the masses.

Update regularly - Consistently update your blog with fresh content. Regularly posting new articles signals to search engines that your site is active and relevant. Choose a schedule and stick to it. Once a week, biweekly, or monthly are your best bets for not burning out.

Optimize keywords - Use your researched keywords in blog posts. Ensure they appear naturally within the title, headings, and body text.

Only make high-quality content - Gone are the days when 700-word blog posts written in 30 minutes can earn you Google’s grace. Write high-quality, informative content that provides value to your readers. Google favors content that answers users’ questions and engages them.

Get your content linked to - Encourage backlinks by writing guest posts on other blogs, participating in interviews, and engaging in online communities. Backlinks (others linking to your content) from reputable sites can significantly boost your SEO.

Don’t overdo it - It is so easy to get caught up in content marketing that you risk burning yourself out or cutting into your valuable book writing time. Remember, you’re an author first. Your website is here as a tool to serve your writing journey. Don’t forget that.

Updates and Maintenance

Let’s step away from SEO. It can be a gamechanger, but I don’t think most people reading this will ever venture too far into the depths of search engine optimization.

What you will need to concern yourself with, however, is how often you update and maintain your author website.

I’ve gone years without touching my website, and you know what that rewarded me with? Nothing. As mentioned, I’ve also updated my website with 3-5 articles a week. In terms of book sales, which is what I wanted my website to do, that rigorous schedule yielded the same results.

Realistically, we’re not web developers. For most authors, your website is just one of the tools you want to use on your journey. So I propose the following:

1. Update your website at least once a month.
2. Review your website once a quarter.

Updating Your Website

This is the fun side of running an author website. At least once a month, swing by to update your digital home base and make sure nothing is broken. What are you going to post about? That’s up to you!

Sharing information about a new release, including a pre-order campaign, is an obvious choice. You should promptly add information about new book releases, including cover images, summaries, and purchase links. Highlight these updates on your homepage and in relevant sections.

If you have an event calendar, you can update it. Keep it up-to-date with upcoming book signings, virtual events, and appearances. Be sure to provide detailed information like dates, locations, and how to attend or RSVP.

While you’re at it, regularly review and update book pages with new reviews, awards, or media mentions. Ensure all links to purchase books are working and up-to-date.

That doesn’t mean you need to copy and paste every single review onto your book pages, but it gives you an opportunity to share some great new praise.

And, of course, you can write a blog post on whatever schedule you want. Even if you aren’t leveraging SEO, this is a great way to connect with your audience and turn them into fans.

Here’s a rapid-fire list of other things you can add onto your website, specifically a blog no geared towards SEO:

Behind-the-Scenes Looks

Your writing process - Share insights into your writing process, including how you develop characters, plot, and settings.

Workspace tour - Give readers a virtual tour of your writing workspace, complete with photos or a video.

Music playlists - Build a Spotify (or other music streaming service) playlist for your book, a part of it, or each chapter. This is a fun way to elevate the reading experience.

Character Profiles and Interviews

Character profiles - Create detailed profiles of your main characters, including background, motivations, and fun facts that might never make it into a book.

Character interviews - Write interviews with your characters as if they were real people, providing a deeper dive into their personalities and answering from their perspective. This is a great way to develop your characters for your writing, too.

Deleted Scenes and Bonus Content

Deleted scenes - Share scenes that didn’t make it into the final book, explaining why they were cut. Make sure these have been thoroughly edited and revised; they might not be published in a novel, but they’re still a public display of the quality of your writing.

Bonus chapters - Offer exclusive bonus chapters or epilogues to loyal readers.

Book Updates

Work-in-progress updates - Keep readers informed about the progress of your upcoming projects. This is a great way to keep yourself accountable, too.

Personal Stories and Anecdotes

Author journey - Share personal stories about your journey as an author, including challenges and successes. These sorts of stories are as therapeutic as they are a powerful way of building trust with your readers.

Life events - Write about significant life events, hobbies, or interests that inspire your writing. Just remember that parasocial relationships are a thing we want to avoid, so don’t treat your readers like a family member or friend. Be personal but professional.

Reader Q&A

Reader questions - Answer questions from your readers in a blog post or video.

Book Reviews and Recommendations

Book reviews - Review books you’ve read recently, especially those in your genre.

Reading lists - Create themed reading lists or recommendations for your readers.

Event Recaps

Event highlights - Recap events like book signings, readings, or conventions, including photos and personal reflections.

Upcoming events - Provide details about upcoming events and encourage readers to attend.

Guest Posts and Collaborations

Guest authors - Feature guest posts from other authors that you know your readers will love. Let them chat about their journeys, their new releases, or anything else you think your fans would find valuable.

Collaborative projects - Announce and share updates on collaborative projects with other writers.

Fan Contributions

Fan art - Showcase fan art related to your books with the artists’ permission.

Reader stories - Share stories or testimonials from readers about how your books have impacted them. This one can feel very disingenuous, so tread lightly.

Contests and Giveaways

For any contest or giveaway, please be aware of the laws regarding them both in your country and the countries you’re running them in.

Contests - Host writing or art contests related to your books to encourage reader participation.

Giveaways - Organize giveaways for signed copies of your books, merchandise, or other goodies.

Technical Maintenance

I’m not a website developer or an IT specialist, so don’t think I’m going to overwhelm you with tech jargon here. If you’re using a website builder like Squarespace or Wix, most of the technical maintenance will be taken care of.

When something goes wrong, you can check their help docs or reach out to their customer support.

That said, there are a few things you can keep an eye out for when you do your quarterly checks.

First, ensure your SSL certificate is working. Have you ever tried to visit a website that started with http instead of https and your browser said, “Chill out, this isn’t safe,” and sent you away? That’s because they didn’t have a working SSL certificate.

If yours isn’t working and your website isn’t loading with https://yourauthorwebsite.com, reach out to your customer support.

Regularly backup your website, too. Most platforms will do this automatically, but it doesn’t hurt for you to save a local version of your website’s data, especially valuable info like an email list.

If you’re using a website platform like WordPress, install security plugins to protect against malware and unauthorized access. Keep these plugins up-to-date to benefit from the latest security features.

Take some time to look at your website’s loading speed while you’re there. How quickly your pages load has a direct impact on conversion rates (visitors doing what you want) and SEO. If a page is taking more than a couple seconds to load, look at the file size of images and videos on the page (that’s usually the culprit). Alternatively, use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify and fix issues that may be slowing down your site.

Finally, find and fix broken things. “Things,” in this case, meaning links, images, and videos. Broken links mean you’re missing out on sales or signups. Broken images and videos make for a worse visitor experience and make you look unprofessional. Unless you’re investing a lot of time in content marketing, your website shouldn’t be so big that you can’t do a quick look through for broken stuff.

Website Analytics

This is another topic that is usually more advanced or one you can get lost in, but your website analytics is one area you want to have a rudimentary understanding of if you’re going to spend time maintaining your website (and, to be clear, you should be spending time on that).

Most common website platforms come with a built-in analytics dashboard, but you can also use Google Analytics to get a more refined, comprehensive view if you’re super serious about analytics.

Odds are, you aren’t at that point yet (and, frankly, most authors never need to be at that point). So let’s cover the basics.

What Are Website Analytics?

Website analytics are tools and techniques used to measure, collect, analyze, and report on web data for the purpose of understanding and optimizing web usage. They help you understand how visitors interact with your website, where they come from, and how effective your content is.

Since we’re authors and should spend most of our time writing, here’s a rundown of the analytic metrics you might care about.

Key Metrics to Track

Page Views

The total number of times a page on your website is viewed. This helps you understand which pages are the most popular and engaging.

Unique Visitors

The number of distinct individuals visiting your website during a given period. Understanding this metric gives you insight into the size of your audience.

Sessions

A session is a group of interactions (page views, clicks, etc.) that take place on your website within a given time frame (typically 30 minutes).

Sessions help you better understand visitor engagement and activity patterns.

Bounce Rate

The percentage of visitors who leave your website after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate may indicate that visitors aren’t finding what they’re looking for or that your content needs improvement.

Average Session Duration

The average length of time a visitor spends on your website during a session. Longer session durations generally indicate more engaging content.

Pages Per Session

The average number of pages a visitor views during a session. Higher pages per session suggest that visitors are exploring your site and finding multiple pages of interest.

Traffic Sources

Information about where your visitors come from, like search engines, social media, direct visits, or referral links. This info is for more advanced analysis as it helps you identify the most effective channels for driving traffic to your website.

Conversion Rate

The percentage of visitors who complete a desired action (e.g., signing up for a newsletter, purchasing a book). You need to set up what you want that desired action to be.

Conversion rate measures the effectiveness of your website in achieving its goals and is the most important metric at the end of the day.

Advanced Author Website Techniques

To round out this Deep Dive, I want to touch on two advanced techniques you can use in conjunction with your shiny new author website: integrating a newsletter and monetizing your online efforts.

I call these advanced techniques because they involve a lot more work than just setting up a website (“just” despite the amount of work I know it takes to do this). These are the kinds of things that will take your author game up a notch or ten.

They also each deserve their own Deep Dive. Don’t worry, I have a running list.

Let’s talk about how you can make use of these techniques with your new and improved website.

Integrating a Newsletter

I’m going to say this upfront: every author should be building an email list and maintain regular contact with this list via a newsletter. “Regular contact” might, like posting on a blog, mean weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. If you’re getting started, I advise monthly so you don’t burn yourself out and keep the newsletter valuable.

For our purposes, I’m going to talk about setting up and running your newsletter via your website rather than the theory behind and benefits of a newsletter itself. But I’m not being hyperbolic when I say this one is a must-have.

Setting Up and Managing a Mailing List

First, you need to set up a system to capture emails that your readers submit. There are a handful of different options for this.

Most people still use a third-party email marketing service to manage their lists and build their newsletters. To go this route, select an email marketing service that suits your needs, like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, or MailerLite. These platforms offer tools to help you build and manage your mailing list and can integrate with virtually any website.

Alternatively, if you’re using a platform like Squarespace, they have a built-in email marketing system that you can add to your existing service. This keeps everything in the same website ecosystem and makes it look more integrated than using an outside service. That said, third-party systems tend to have more bells and whistles than ones developed by website platforms.

From there, you must create attractive signup forms for people to enter their deets. Place them in your homepage, your footer, your blog sidebar, or even at the end of blogs themselves.

Make use of all that time we spent talking about CTAs earlier in this article to write the copy for your signup forms.

That usually involves offering some sort of incentive. This most often looks like a free novella, free chapters, exclusive short stories, or access to a private community. No one wants to give you the ability to email them for nothing. Odds are, you’re going to have to build something to sweeten the deal, but use a polished, edited chapter or two for now.

Designing Effective Email Campaigns

Once you start building your email list, you need to keep in touch with your fans. Here are five (deceptively simple) tips to write effective email newsletters:

1. Consistent branding: Ensure your emails match your author brand in terms of design, tone, and content. Use your logo (if you have one), color scheme, and fonts consistently.
2. Engaging content: Send regular newsletters that provide actual value to your readers. This might include updates on your writing progress, exclusive content, upcoming events, and personal (but relevant) stories.
3. Segmentation: Segment your email list based on reader preferences, engagement levels, or purchase history. This allows you to send targeted emails that are more likely to resonate with each group. If you write in multiple genres, this is a must.
4. Personalization: Use personalization features to address subscribers by their name and tailor content based on their interests. Personalized emails significantly improve engagement and conversion rates.
5. Call to Action: Include clear and compelling calls to action in your emails. Whether you want readers to buy your new book, attend an event, or share your content, make it easy for them to take the desired action. The harder you make it, the less it will happen.

Don’t Delay Starting Your Email List

We’ll get to this Deep Dive sooner over later, I promise, but I can’t emphasize enough that you should start building your email list as soon as you can. Make this a priority to set up when you create or polish your author website.

More than social media, more than ads, your mailing list is your #1 tool to sell books, and it’s only possible because of your website.

Monetization Options

Having a digital home base like a website unlocks a bunch of different ways you can increase your author earnings, usually through extra streams of income.

Like I said before, this is worthy of its own article, so I’m only going to cover this in some broader strokes (and this Deep Dive is already very long). Any of the options in this section require two things, though:

1. Some sort of technological integration to handle payments, customers, and digital delivery/communication
2. You cultivate an active, engaged reader base over time.

The second one is the most important. Don’t expect to make bonus cash off your website without putting in the work to become a trusted, entertaining figure to your fans.

If you do that, here are ways you can take some next steps in your author career.

Direct Sales

Amazon and retail bookstores like Barnes & Noble are the most significant sources of our book sales, and that’s probably not going to change anytime soon. However, more and more authors are embracing direct sales on their website to leverage the community they’ve built.

Selling your books directly to your readers has a number of advantages.

It lets you sign them, add in personal messages, and gives the whole process a more personal touch. You control the packaging and what’s included.

On top of that, you get way more of the sale. Publishers will tell you what percentage of your net sales you get, but it’s often somewhere around 10% after they subtract their costs. If you’re self-published, Amazon will take anywhere from 30-65% of the sale, depending on the format and market.

If you sell your book directly to a reader, you get everything minus the cost of printing and shipping (if you don’t charge them that).

To put this in perspective, if a bookstore sells your published novel and the revenue after costs is $11.99, you get $1.99 from your publisher. If you self-publish and sell it for the same on Amazon, you’ll likely net 60% and earn $7.19.

If you sell it on your website and charge for shipping, that $11.99 after printing costs earns you $11.99.

When it comes to e-books, Amazon gives you 70% after “digital delivery fees,” so a $4.99 book will earn you about $3. If you sell it on your website, you get $4.99.

Now, direct sales are more challenging to make, which is why the engaged community is a must. But it can earn you a lot more money in the long run.

Merchandise Shop

You can also create and sell online merchandise via your website. It’s easier than ever to make shirts, bookmarks, mugs, and other merch your readers might enjoy featuring their favorite characters, quotes, or vibes from your writing.

It’s also easier than ever to use platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce (for WordPress), or Etsy to set up an online store. These platforms offer tools to manage inventory, process payments, and handle shipping.

Even if you aren’t offering direct sales for all your books and formats, you can use a merch shop to offer signed or limited edition books, too. 

The trick for this is to make sure the products you’re selling are high quality and you promote them in a non-spammy way so that people know they exist.

Successfully running any online store requires a more nuanced understanding of sales, shipping, and e-commerce than we can get into. It’s not a free money generator, no matter what some TikTok personalities might lead you to believe.

Paid Membership or Subscriptions

Your most dedicated readers and avid fans might be willing to pay for membership to an exclusive community that you engage with and foster through bonus content and events.

For something like this to work, you need to offer valuable perks to these paying members, such as early access to new releases, behind-the-scenes content, or one-on-one Q&A sessions. Maybe you regularly host live events, webinars, or virtual book clubs.

Tailor these perks to what your readers find most appealing.

You can use different membership tiers to help accommodate various budgets and let readers choose the support they give and the perks they receive. 

A growing trend is to release serialized short stories or chapters of a book on a subscription basis—some authors have made five- and six-figure incomes doing this. 

Consistency and polish are the keys to making this sort of subscription possible. It’s not only unethical to take money from someone without keeping up your end of the bargain, but it’s also a surefire way to lose subscribers and fans.

You even risk damaging your overall reputation if you just take money from folks for nothing or inconsistent perks.

You can use platforms like Patreon or Ko-fi for this, but more and more authors are leveraging their websites to set up premium communities with payment processors that can manage subscriptions.

With your own website, as with direct sales, you keep a lot more of the profit. However, bear in mind that asking someone to sign up on your site instead of one like Patreon (where they may already have an account) adds an additional layer of friction that might turn people off.

You Have Everything You Need to Build a Great Author Website

Between this article and Part One, you’ve now read more than 14,000 words about building and capitalizing on an author website.

That’s a lot of dang words.

It’s also a lot of information to digest. Don’t worry, though, because building a website is an iterative process. You make the foundation. You improve it. You see what’s working and what isn’t. You revise it.

And, since you’re a Premium Dabbler, these articles will be here whenever you need to reference them.

To tie everything together, we’re also hosting a live workshop to cover everything you need to know about author websites. We’ll be taking all the information from these Deep Dives and putting it into practice.

If you’re reading this the day it goes up, you can click here to register for the workshop (and get access to it on demand after). I’d love to see you there and answer any questions you might have.

Don’t forget to download the author website cheat sheet, too! Click here to grab that so you make sure you aren’t missing anything when you build your digital home base.

Now there’s nothing left to do but go out and build it!

‍