A couple of months ago I wrote an article covering the first five pages that every small business website needs. Today we'll dive into a specific industry and cover the first few pages that every author needs. Two weeks ago I spoke to a group of authors and this weekend I'm speaking to another one. This started me thinking about how authors -- and other industries, as well -- vary just slightly in their online needs. Today we'll look at authors. In the future, we'll look at some other groups.
Of course, even in the group known as authors there are even finer subgroups. Not wanting to drill down too deep, I'll just use fiction and non-fiction to cover both major subsets and address minor difference in what these authors might need on their websites.
All Authors
Every author is going to need a few basic pages:
- Home/Blog - Your home page and your blog are often the same. However, they don't have to be. If you break them apart and create a static home page, make sure it has some value and good information that sets it apart from the other pages on your website.
- The Book(s) - This page is what it's all about ... your writing. List your book or books here. If you have a lot of books, you might consider having a page for each of them, but definitely have a card catalog of your works at the entry point. Include pictures of covers, excerpts, and a brief review (save some of these for your Reviews/Social Proof page below.) Hopefully your works are for sale somewhere, too. If so, include a "Buy Now" button to take them to your online bookstore (be that on your website or even Amazon.com.) If you write short stories, do the same, but link to the magazines or online publications where the stories can be read. If you are publishing them directly on your website, include those stories on a separate page.
- About - I can't tell you how many articles I've read about J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen King, Michael Connelly, Dan Pink, Patrick Lencioni, and pretty much every author I've clicked with while reading their works. I wanted to know what was behind the pages. Your readers will want to know about you, too. They don't need your whole life story, not all on one webpage. But they want a peek behind the curtain that separates the pages from the author.
- Reviews/Social Proof - Reviews, testimonials, awards, you name it. Anytime anyone has something good to say about your book, print it here and link to the source (if applicable.)
- Contact - Sooner or later, your readers will want to reach out and contact you. Provide an email address (or contact form, if you prefer) and links to social media where readers can engage you.
Non-Fiction Authors
- Resources - Just as they will want to know more about you, they'll want to know more about your topic. Provide links to other resources on the topics about which you write. You will probably want to make this more of a resource listing and less of an exposition. Keep that information for your books or even for quick treatments on your blog.
- Speaking - Many non-fiction authors are also speakers on their topics of choice. If you speak (or even hope to,) include a page explaining how to book you. If you speak on a number of topics but don't write about all of them, you might consider a second "Speaker" website so as not to dilute your writing content on this website. You can always link to that speaker website from there, though.
Fiction Authors
- Speaking - Just like your non-fiction counterparts, you may speak to groups. If so, create your speaking page, too, but be clear on your topic. If you speak on the art of writing, let them know. If you tell stories from your works, let them know that, too.
What about Resources, you ask? It's probably not quite right for you, oh weaver of make believe. Keep your resources as fodder for your blog.
Do's & Don't's
- Splash Pages - If you use adult content on your website, consider having a splash page where reader has to confirm their intent to see the material. If you don't have adult content, avoid this.
- Email List - Make sure that readers can sign up for your email list so they can get news about your and your writing.
The Quick Takeaway
Even though authors are slightly different, they still need almost the same First Five Pages as small businesses. They just need to tweak them like they'd tweak a plot line.