Do You Want a Website?

          At some point, if you are seriously considering a career in writing, someone will try to convince you that you should create a website. Are they right? Does every aspiring writer need a website, even before they ‘get the call’? Or should they ignore the pressure, concentrate on writing books and leave a website until after they have a publishing contract?

          As with any other decision, there are conflicting opinions and you will have to decide what is best for you. Here are a few of my thoughts, which may help you make a decision for or against.

          I think the first thing to consider is the purpose of the website. Why would anyone come visit it? If I had books to offer, of course one of the main goals for the site would be to let people know about my books. I don’t have any books to sell. Not yet. So creating a website for that purpose just doesn’t make a lot of sense. Even when I do have published books, a site that is only a advertising tool will get limited traffic. Unless I do a lot of networking and publicity, which would take time away from my writing, there is only a limited amount of traffic I could expect.

          As I’ve considered this, I’ve gone to two different groups of people for ideas, other writers and internet marketers. (Occasionally, those groups will merge and I’ll find a writer immersed in Internet marketing. Randy Ingermanson, for instance.) The internet marketers make the most sense. (That’s really not that surprising, considering they are attempting to make a living from online marketing.)

          The common theme they all emphasize is to keep your target audience in mind and create a site that gives that target audience something they want. You give them something they want that helps them while it increases their desire for whatever you are offering. Create a site that has your target audience returning again and again, even if it is only for those freebies, be it information, entertainment or actual product.

          That seems counter to the way many authors create their sites. They put up graphics of their books, links to places where they blog and a calendar listing where they will be speaking. Their site, be it a blog or a full-fledged website, is all about them. If the reader is into that author and the reason they are visiting that site is to learn about the author and buy books, all well and good. But how does that author attract and keep visitors who are not initially interested in her books or appearances? And how does that author keep those same visitors returning more often than her publication schedule?

          Again, it is about offering the visitor something other than a pitch to, “Buy my latest book!”

          Sort of like this site. Kitty, Shonna and I definitely started this site to increase our own name recognition, hoping it might even establish a base of potential readers when we publish these stories we are creating. That is no secret. Unless we tell you that is one of our goals (as I just did), though, it is not obvious. We are not (usually ) yelling, “Hey! Look at me!” and putting up useless drivel about our activities and opinions. We do discuss our activities and opinions, but within the context of offering you and other visitors to the site something of worth, something that will help you along your own quest toward publication. (At least that is what we strive to do.)

          So if you are considering creating a blog or website, be sure you have something to offer an audience along with whatever chatter about yourself you include. When there is something the reader considers worth her time, she will visit, she will return and she will tell her friends. And that’s what you want, lots of traffic and talk.