How to Build an Author Website – How Many Pages + Social Media
In our last installment of “How to Build an Author Website,” we gave some advice on where and how to learn the skills necessary to build your own author website. Now we’re taking a peek into the final bit of nitty gritty involved with designing your own site – how big should it be? How many pages should it have? And, of course – does it replace social media?
Let’s dive in.
How Many Pages Does an Author Site Need?
You may think ‘the more, the merrier,’ but this isn’t always the case. In fact, across all industries, people are adopting a cleaner, non-cluttered approach to their web design. It’s considering ‘modern’ to put everything you need on one or two pages, since viewers have very little patience to click around in a mad hunt for answers to their curiosities or questions.
So, one or many?
Advantages of One Page
Less design needed from you! With every page you add, you’re increasing the amount of design effort you’ll have to invest. With just one page, you can focus all your creativity into a single area and ensure it truly shines.
Less clutter. As stated above, we’re becoming less and less patient as internet users. We know what we want and we’d like our answers in a snappy fashion, thank you! By having only one page, you allow readers to quickly learn all they need to know without having to switch tabs. As a bonus, it’s a godsend for those with slow internet connection, who certainly can’t tolerate more load time.
Less weight on your server. The more pages you have, the more data that results in – and that means your server has to store more. By limiting the amount of pages, and therefore data, you can stay within a cheap hosting plan that only provides a few megabytes worth of storage, saving you money.
It’s in vogue. A great number of author websites stick to just a landing page, since there are only three to five things readers are truly looking to know. A) Who you are as an author. B) What your book is and what it’s about. C) Do you have social media? D) Do you have more books coming out, and where can I find them? E) Fun facts or interesting snippets from/about your writing. There really isn’t much else! As such, many authors are choosing to go with the one-page format, so you’ll be sticking to the industry standard!
Disadvantages
Limits your layout. While a one-page site is in-fashion among authors, there are still some who choose to leverage multiple pages. Because, well, it looks nicer. It gives a more orderly sense to your website, and since a great number of websites have a menu bar with additional pages to view, if you lack this, it can make your site look a tad claustrophobic.
No shop function. Since shop functions are a complete system of their own, they will require their own page, even if this is linked on your landing page. Should you intend on selling your book on the site as well, you’ll have to create a second page anyhow. If you’re selling on Amazon, Smashwords, or another venue, however, one page with several links will be fine!
Overload. Additional features and plug-ins have a ‘weight’ of their own, and too many of them in a single area can lead to an incredible lag for visitors. Like the shop function, if you intend on adding a rotating album of your books, a ready-play video, or other flashy features, it’s better to spread these out on multiple pages, so visitors can decide to click in and accept that load (and that load alone) or pass it by for the more crucial aspects of your site.
Advantages of Multiple Pages
Better organized. As mentioned above, a site with multiple pages allows you to categorize information and spread it around neatly, so readers can more easily find the details they want without having to scroll, scroll, nothing but scroll.
Not in vogue, but an old favorite. While slimmer websites are in fashion, that doesn’t mean they have to be only one-page slim. It’s been a favorite of visitors and site builders for some time to limit the amount of pages – but to spread this over at least two, so as to ease navigation.
Less load. Also mentioned above, spreading out data makes it easier for visitors to load a single page at a time, without taking the brunt of an entire site all at once.
More features! You can have a shop function, a little animation sequence, videos, photo albums – the works! This can be spread across as many pages as you like.
Disadvantages
A labyrinth. Visitors are impatient. If they’re forced to search throughout your entire site via multiple pages to find the simple information they want, they’ll cut their losses and click away.
More design effort. With many pages comes many design options. You could leave all the others rather plain while tidying up your landing page, but this will give it an unfinished look. Remember, the more you have, the nicer it all has to look!
More cost. If you hire a designer, they will likely charge by the page, raising your overall expenses. If you do it yourself, you still have to ensure your server can hold all this new data, and that may result in upgrading your hosting package.
Pro-Tip from Lena S Andersson: “One of the most important things is to keep things clear and simple in terms of layout and looks.”
If you have enough content to span 10 pages, be sure to ask if it should. Is there anything you could remove without truly hurting the site? Then you should, as a cluttered site can be even more damaging than no site at all!
“It all depends on the message you have. If the book you’re publishing has an attached history that’s really crucial, then perhaps more pages are needed to convey the magnitude of what comes with this simple book. If your story is a more straightforward, then one page may be enough.”
To Social Media or Not to Social Media?
Now that you have a site, does it replace social media? Does it make social media less important?
Pro-Tip from Lena: “I wouldn't say a website replaces social media, but the two can do a great deal for each other. Social media can help you get the site out there and reach people in a different way than what just a website can do on its own. A website can give people more information and guidance than just social media can do. Both are important in their own way.
“It’s key to remember that, on social media, you’re playing on someone else’s platform. Having your own website means having your own platform!
“So, both are needed, but having a website can do more for you than existing only on social media. It gives you a solid presence that is easy to reference and easy to share.”
Wrapping Up
That’s all for now! If you’ve missed them, please check out the other articles in this series of “How to Build an Author Site.” A big thanks to L S Andersson for her insights and advice about this exciting (though daunting) venture for writers.
If you’re interested, please take a look at her author site, AnamMara.com, and check out her debut book, Behind Closed Doors: Trusting The Unseen, available on her site and on Amazon. Along with her book, Lena is preparing to launch an inspirational project, called AnamMara.
The Project
Can you briefly describe the project?
“A lot of women around the globe are not able to leave dangerous and violent surroundings, domestic abuse, and sexual violence due to fear, lack of resources, and a lack of funds. Even worse, they’re trapped because they have nowhere to go and nobody who 'sees' them.
With this project, I work passionately and actively to empower women to break free from the destructive cycle of poverty, unemployment, domestic abuse, violence, and modern slavery. I hope to accomplish this through advocacy and my book, as well as through a network of independent stylist resellers.”
The Goal
Can you briefly describe the goal and overarching purpose of the project?
“I am passionate about creating business opportunities for women, and empowering individuals to create independence via their own income. This vision comes from my own past experiences of abuse, socially vulnerable, and disadvantaged situations. You can read more about this in my book.
I also feel we need to talk more openly about these issues in society and in the world. As such, my goal is to educate and inform - to tell people how the world looks for millions of women everywhere, a fact which is so silenced and oppressed.”
The Steps Being Taken
What steps are being taken to launch this project and make it a success?
“I am partnering with organizations working to get the voice out for people who have no voice. I hope that - through advocacy and my book, by partnering with organizations, and by collaborating with resellers and ambassadors – together, we can make a difference and see change when it comes to abuse and violence against women.”
Sign Up or Support
You can sign up via the website AnamMara.com to participate in this project now, donate via GoFundMe, or buy her book Behind Closed Doors: Trusting The Unseen on the website or on Amazon.
Thanks for reading, and happy writing!