10 Reasons to Keep Your Writer Website Simple by Pauline Wiles

Please welcome Pauline Wiles as she shares with us about 10 Reasons to Keep Your Writer Website Simple. She also has an amazing offer to beta test her course for free. Details and how to apply below.

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I recently returned from the San Francisco Indie Unconference, where an impressive and prolific group of authors shared tips, methods, and best practice in their writing lives.

With multiple books published, most of these authors have extensive and sometimes complex websites. Chances are, your favorite (bestselling) author has a superb site, too. If you’re a writer who’s early in your career, it can be tempting to think you need a similarly expansive online presence.

Instead, I believe that keeping your writer website simple is the smartest decision you can make, especially if you have fewer than five books released.

Here are ten reasons to keep your writer website simple:

1. There’s a much higher chance you’ll finish it. By making your website project a medium-sized task instead of a giant mission, you dramatically increase the odds of actually getting it done.
2. You’ll gain confidence and momentum from declaring your writing life to the world. As Steve Jobs famously said, “Real artists ship.” Publishing your website boosts your self-efficacy and has a positive impact on the rest of your writing, too.
3. It’ll cost you less, both for the initial set up (if you need someone to help you), and ongoing hosting charges. The platform I prefer for simple websites, Carrd.co, offers an attractive free plan, or you can upgrade for just $19 per year. That’s less than the monthly charge with some other hosting options.
4. A simple writer website is much easier to keep up to date. Instead of wrangling 20 pages and wondering what might need attention on each one, keep your website to just 4-5 pages, and you’ll have less housekeeping to tackle. And that equals more time freed up for writing!
5. Restricting the total content you add to your website means fewer broken links and other mistakes. These days, you should check how your website behaves across multiple devices: phones and tablets, as well as larger screens. This is much less daunting when you have fewer pages to test.
6. Visitors spend a shockingly small amount of time actually reading the text on your website. Eye-tracking research at Missouri University found subjects spent about 2.6 seconds scanning a website, followed by 5.59 seconds looking at your written content. So please don’t agonize over your website copy!
7. Smart retailers know that their stock looks more desirable and exclusive when displayed in limited quantities in uncluttered stores. Your website is no different: sparse looks classier than cluttered, and “white space,” to give the eye a place to rest, is vital.
8. Your call to action (CTA) will be clearer. You should make a conscious decision on what you would like your website visitor to do next, and be sure this option is prominent on each page.
9. You won’t be tempted to keep fiddling with it, in the hope that if you tweak one more thing, Google will magically send you thousands of new readers. A writer website is important, but it’s not a magic bullet in being discovered.
10. By spending less time tinkering with your website, you’ll have more time to reach out and connect with readers. This means going where your ideal reader hangs out, engaging with them there, and forming authentic relationships.

Build a Simple Writer Website: Beta Testers Wanted

This “Keep it Simple” philosophy features in every website project I undertake for clients, and I’m following this advice for my first online group course.

I know this approach works superbly in 1:1 projects, so I’ll now be guiding a group of students to build similarly crisp and effective sites themselves.

To test my group training material, I’m seeking beta testers to try my $497 website course, at no charge.

In exchange for the course lessons, group coaching, accountability from me, and a community of like minded creatives, you’ll give me feedback and (ideally) a testimonial.

Our curriculum includes your website strategy, copywriting, working with images, color & icons, plus a checklist for testing and sharing your new online home.

Course Begins Soon, Act Now!

The course begins March 2. You’ll follow my steps to plan, design, build, and launch your simple website in just 2 weeks.

Apply Here

If you’d like to join this course as a beta tester, there’s a short application form here: http://bit.ly/betabbpw

Tell me a bit about yourself, your website challenges, and the type of website you’d love to build.

And I’ll hope to meet you in our online classroom soon.

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Editor’ Note: If this is for you, be sure to . jump on it now, as the beta course starts in only a few days!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pauline Wiles is a website designer who builds a simple, stylish online presence for authors and writers. She aims to show her students that launching a website can be easier, more affordable, and more fun than they ever imagined.

Website: https://www.paulinewiles.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/paulinewiles

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paulinewileswebsites

Course application: http://bit.ly/betabbpw