Author Website Essentials Kit

The Author Website Essentials Kit includes the pdf version of the book plus these:

1. AWE SEO Basics Cheatsheet
2. AWE Tech Map Worksheet
3. AWE Style Guide Worksheet
4. AWE Content Checklist
5. AWE Google Analytics, Google Seach Console, Google Tag Manager Complete Setup Guide

If you've been thinking about creating your own author website to promote your work as a writer, maybe you've run into paralysis by analysis with all of the different choices available to you. How do you know what platform to choose, what host to choose, do you need a theme or a builder? and if you've gotten that far, then what?

Maybe that has you feeling stuck. Or maybe you are stuck because of how much work it seems like it is going to take and where do you even start?

Because everyone says it's easy, WordPress has a famous 5 minute install and other platforms like Squarespace and Wix tout how quickly you can be up and running.

What they don't tell you is "it's easy" assumes you know how to organize a website, choose a layout, create a style or design and then figure out what goes where. They didn't tell you about all the things you'd need to collect or the decisions you'd need to make. This book is the missing piece.

Setting up your website is so simple once you know the reasons behind the steps, people don't believe me how easy it can be when I teach them. You worry you'll have to hire someone to do everything for you, but when you learn the basics you are able handle things on your own website.

And if you've decided to hire a designer to help you, this book will help you prepare and gather everything they'll be asking you for to build your site. Either way it smooths the path to get your new website live. 

Sure there are lots of free tutorials and videos out there but they aren't specific to your situation as a writer, and they can leave you clicking around trying to figure things out, or off chasing down some rabbit hole looking for answers. No one wants to be stuck there.

But you don't have to be stuck, this book has everything distilled down for you. Each section covers the content you'll need, the pitfalls to avoid and will help you organize everything so you can build your own author's website.

Are you ready? You've got this!

Author Website Essentials focuses on choosing a platform, creating a design, organizing your content, building your website and monitoring its performance.

The Purpose of Your Author Website

• Selecting Your Platform: a Tech Map
  • the 2 Flavors of Wordpress
  • Squarespace, Weebly, Wix
  • Hosting for Your Website
  • How Long It Takes to Build a Website

Designing Your Identity or Brand

• Choosing a Layout or Theme
  • Choosing Colors
  • Good Typography
  • Using Images and Graphics
  • Creating a Brand or Style Board

Planning Your Site

• the 6 Pages Every Author Website Needs
  • the Essentials to Include on Each Page
  • Gathering the Content for Each Page
  • Your Author Newsletter

Building Your Site

• the Anatomy of a Web Page
  • Avoiding Common Web Design Mistakes
  • Missteps with Formatting Text
  • Working with Images
  • Fighting the Flow of Responsive Design
  • Search Engine Optimization Basics

Analytics and Performance

• the Must Have Tools That Will Give You Data About Your Website's Performance.
  • Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager and Google Search Console