Author Websites with Design You Like Advice

[meg_evonne]

Help. I've a great artist working on my website design. (Yes, JB is on the list.) Here is one that I like, but it doesn't have buy buttons on the 1st page. Also, I need a YA site, so it has to have a younger bent. I need it intuitive, organic and as sparse of exposition as possible. (Yeah, I know, what everyone wants.) I doubt my photo will even appear!

It seems easy to be too critical of websites, but I want a great one!

Any suggestions of Word Press (either option) or other possibilities?

www.whoisamy.com
http://www.goldiegoldbloom.com/


Your favorites? Maybe post your own?

[Quantus]

First thought is to avoid an entirely flash-based site like your 2nd example.  So many, myself included, block Flash by default these days, and it has historically had runtime and compatibility issues. 

Dont really have much input on what makes a good author site as opposed to any other site, honestly.  The biggest piece of advice I can offer is to make sure it looks and functions equally well on touchscreens and mobile devices as it does in the various Browsers.  Ive seen some sites that work and scale nicely, though many just opt for a separate Mobile version of the site bundled into their domain. 

[superpsycho]

Help. I've a great artist working on my website design. (Yes, JB is on the list.) Here is one that I like, but it doesn't have buy buttons on the 1st page. Also, I need a YA site, so it has to have a younger bent. I need it intuitive, organic and as sparse of exposition as possible. (Yeah, I know, what everyone wants.) I doubt my photo will even appear!

It seems easy to be too critical of websites, but I want a great one!

Any suggestions of Word Press (either option) or other possibilities?

www.whoisamy.com
http://www.goldiegoldbloom.com/


Your favorites? Maybe post your own?

What do you want your website to do for you and what content can you offer?
Those are the first two question that need to be answered before anything else.
If you're looking for your site to help sell your books, then you'll need good relevant content that will draw search engines and likely readers of your genre to the site. Once you know what you want the site to do for you, who need to determine the number of landing pages and the keywords you want those pages to focus on.
A starting point What Are Landing Pages and Why Are They Important?
 
The two sites you selected won't do much towards selling books or drawing fans.  Do a search using the topic or keywords you'd like your website to be found under. Then look at the sites that are listed.

[meg_evonne]

That was my major dislike of the pages, no buy buttons.

Thank you for the link on landing pages. i'll read it tonight hopefully.

• Definitely buy links and I see main page to five base pages with pages behind those. 
• Definitely have mobile capacity or at least decent look for resizing
• Collection of email and hits to site
• Would like to identify returning visitors with recognition
• And I doubt I'll have the funds after all that above, but would like to have some Easter Egg awards for completing certain things like posting a review on Amazon or Goodreads, taking a photo of the book in front of a building in their home town, interactive type stuff like that with escalating awards in the five segments.

Stuff like that...

Hopefully your link will help answer questions. GOOD POINT ON THE FLASH part. We'll watch for that.

[superpsycho]

That was my major dislike of the pages, no buy buttons.

Thank you for the link on landing pages. i'll read it tonight hopefully.

• Definitely buy links and I see main page to five base pages with pages behind those. 
• Definitely have mobile capacity or at least decent look for resizing
• Collection of email and hits to site
• Would like to identify returning visitors with recognition
• And I doubt I'll have the funds after all that above, but would like to have some Easter Egg awards for completing certain things like posting a review on Amazon or Goodreads, taking a photo of the book in front of a building in their home town, interactive type stuff like that with escalating awards in the five segments.

Stuff like that...

Hopefully your link will help answer questions. GOOD POINT ON THE FLASH part. We'll watch for that.

The more you try to do the more time it takes to maintain it. The most effective marketing strategy is to have a couple friends who are into the social media scene, work those boards and fan sites for you. You have to decide where your time is best spent, writing or trying to keep up with websites and social media.

I just finished posting a example author's page as part of the 'Creating an Effective Landing Page' thread but that's a member only thread.