This is the last article in our Making an Author Site with WordPress series. We hope it’s helped you get your WordPress author site ready and launched!
Previously, you got your author site ready with menus, settings, theme, content, etc. You should have a good understanding now of how WordPress works and how to build your following.
Here are a few final tips that may help.
- Don’t load too many plugins to your site. Plugins add weight and that can mean your site will load slowly. Plugins can be more of an expense as you have to upgrade your server package in order to deal with the extra drain on resources. So, choose wisely and limit what you add. Remember, your author site is for your writing. All you need for that is already included in WordPress.
- Be easy on the theme. It may look cool to have a dark colored background or some fancy font but think of your readers. Have a look at your articles with those colors or that on your site. Is it easy to read after 10 minutes? Are you noticing any eye strain? It’s best to stick to simple fonts and backgrounds. Your readers will thank you.
- Limit ads on your blog. Yeah, they can generate some revenue but if you put too many, it looks bad. If readers see a lot of ads, they don’t come back. Don’t ever use animated ads. It destroys an author site to have animation. Readers won’t be able to focus on your writing and will be distracted by the animations. Some readers with epilepsy could even have seizures.
- Try to write at least once a week but more frequently if you can. Readers will stray and lose interest if they don’t see some fresh content from you. If you are only building a site to showcase your books, that’s fine but you will get more sales and interest in your books if you also give your followers a bit more to draw them in.
- Don’t be afraid to join author sites and post a link to your blog if allowed. I own LiterarySocial and I do allow author site links. I also promote author books that are submitted in the classifieds on LS (LiterarySocial). It’s a good way to get writing help if needed, and to help promote your book.
- Lastly, here’s a link to the finished site that I made while writing this tutorial. You won’t see a ton of content on it yet as I’ve been busy writing this. 🙂
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