How to Create an Author Website in WordPress (Step-by-Step)
As an author with 15 years of experience in the digital world, I’ve seen firsthand how a well-crafted author website can transform your career. It’s not just about showcasing your books; it’s about building a direct connection with your readers, establishing your brand, and generating revenue streams beyond traditional publishing. And WordPress, with its flexibility and ease of use, is the perfect platform to make it happen.
In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through every step of creating a professional author website in WordPress. We’ll cover everything from choosing the right theme and setting up essential plugins to customizing your site’s layout, selling books, and promoting your work effectively. Get ready to turn your author dreams into a thriving online presence!
Why Build An Author’s Website?
Many authors rely on promoting their work through social media platforms or their publisher’s marketing channels. While these are valuable tools, they come with limitations. You don’t own those platforms, and your audience could vanish if your profile gets blocked or those platforms change their algorithms.
A website gives you complete control. It’s your own space, where you can build a loyal following, connect directly with readers, and explore diverse revenue streams. Here’s why it’s essential:
- Ownership and Control: You own your website. It’s not subject to the whims of social media companies. You control the content, design, and how you interact with your audience.
- Direct Reader Connection: Build an email list and connect with your readers directly. Send out newsletters, announce new releases, and share exclusive content without relying on third-party platforms.
- Monetization Flexibility: Expand your income beyond book sales. Offer online courses, subscriptions, merchandise, and more, giving you greater financial independence.
- Brand Building: A website allows you to showcase your personality, unique voice, and brand identity. It becomes a hub for your work, connecting all aspects of your author persona.
- SEO Benefits: A well-optimized website can improve your search engine rankings, making it easier for readers to discover you. This means more visibility and potential book sales.
What Do You Need to Build an Author Website?
To embark on your WordPress author website journey, you’ll need a few essential components:
- Domain Name: This is your website’s address, what readers will type into their browser to find you (e.g., yourname.com). A domain typically costs around $14.99 per year.
- Website Hosting Account: This is where your website’s files are stored. Hosting plans usually start around $7.99 per month (often paid annually).
- WordPress.org: The free and open-source content management system that powers over 43% of websites on the internet. It’s the most flexible and user-friendly platform for building author websites.
Fortunately, you can get a fantastic deal on both a domain name and hosting. Bluehost, an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider, offers WPBeginner users a free domain and a HUGE discount on hosting. This means you can get started for just $1.99 per month.
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If you want to spend a little more for premium hosting features, consider SiteGround or WP Engine. See our comparison of the top WordPress hosting companies for more recommendations.
Getting Started with Your Author Site
Once you’ve signed up for a WordPress hosting account, the next step is to install WordPress. If you chose Bluehost, they’ll automatically install it for you. Log in to your hosting account dashboard and click on the ‘Edit WordPress Site’ button to access WordPress.
For other hosting companies, follow our step-by-step guide on how to install WordPress. After installation, you’ll reach your WordPress dashboard, which will look something like this: [Include an image of the WordPress dashboard here.]
Examples of Author Websites (For Inspiration & Ideas)
Before diving into building your website, it’s helpful to see examples of successful author websites for inspiration. These websites showcase different design approaches, features, and monetization strategies. Here are some of my favorites:
- James Clear: www.jamesclear.com – James Clear, the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller *Atomic Habits*, has a clean, minimalist design with an email capture form as the main call to action. This simple approach focuses on capturing readers’ attention and growing his email list.
- Lisa Gardner: www.lisagardner.com – Lisa Gardner’s website showcases her work prominently and drives traffic to online retailers where readers can purchase her books. It features a slider at the top and a prominent newsletter signup form, effectively promoting her work and building her audience.
- Elizabeth Gilbert: www.elizabethgilbert.com – This website highlights Elizabeth Gilbert’s books with links to online retailers. It also includes sections neatly highlighted with icons, showcasing her diverse projects and engaging readers with different interests.
- Simon Sinek: www.simonsinek.com – Simon Sinek’s website exemplifies a multi-faceted approach to monetization. It features books, a podcast, online courses, an online store, and more. It demonstrates how a website can be a hub for multiple revenue streams, effectively engaging readers and maximizing your earning potential.
- Malcolm Gladwell: www.malcolmgladwell.com – Malcolm Gladwell’s website uses a minimalist design, showcasing his latest book prominently on the front page. His menu also features a podcast, providing a platform for his work and expanding his reach.
Choosing a Theme for Your Author Site
Now that you have some inspiration, it’s time to choose a design for your website. There are two primary approaches:
Option 1. Choose a WordPress Theme for Authors
WordPress themes control the visual presentation of your website. They come with various templates for different pages and sections. There are thousands of free and paid WordPress themes specifically designed for authors. While this abundance is great, it can make choosing a theme overwhelming for beginners.
To make things easier, I’ve compiled a list of the best WordPress themes for authors: [Include a list of recommended themes here.]
I recommend starting with a minimalist theme with a clean layout and ample white space. This creates a professional look and makes your website easier to navigate.
Option 2. Using SeedProd’s Drag and Drop Page Builder
WordPress themes are incredibly easy to use, but sometimes you might want complete creative control over your website’s design. That’s where SeedProd comes in. It’s the best WordPress page builder plugin on the market, letting you create any kind of layout with drag and drop, no coding required.
SeedProd offers a library of 300+ professionally designed templates and an intuitive page builder. You can point and click to edit any item or drag and drop elements to create your own layouts. It includes 90+ ready-made blocks for quickly adding new content, such as social profiles, testimonials, star ratings, image carousels, Stripe payments, and more.
SeedProd is theme agnostic, working seamlessly with any WordPress theme you choose. You can even create a custom WordPress theme without coding and edit it using its user-friendly interface.
💡 Need help designing your WordPress site? Let WPBeginner Pro Services bring your vision to life. Our experienced designers can create a custom WordPress website for you, easily and affordably. Get Our WordPress Website Design Services Today! [Include a link to your design services here.]
Setting Up Your Website Layout and Pages
WordPress uses two primary content types: posts and pages.
- Posts: Posts are part of a blog and are displayed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent posts at the top.
- Pages: Pages are used for static content. They remain unchanged unless you edit them manually.
To create a new page in WordPress, go to Pages » Add New. Give your page a title and add the content. WordPress includes a powerful block editor, where you can add content items as blocks. For detailed instructions, see our tutorial on how to use the WordPress editor to create beautiful content layouts. Alternatively, use SeedProd to create custom page layouts.
Here are the essential pages you’ll need for your author website:
- Home Page: The front page that readers see when they visit your website. This is your first impression; make it count!
- Blog Page: A place to post regular updates, news, articles, and more. It’s a great way to engage readers, build a community, and showcase your expertise.
- About / Bio Page: A detailed introduction of yourself, including your biographical information, awards, achievements, and anything else you want to share with readers. This page helps readers get to know you better.
- Contact Page: A simple page with a contact form and other ways to reach out to you, allowing readers to connect and ask questions.
You can also add other pages depending on your website’s goals. For example, if you sell merchandise, you might include a shop page.
Once you’ve created these pages, you’ll want to add them to your website’s navigation bar. Go to Appearance » Menus to create a new menu. Add the pages you just created from the left column to your menu and click on the ‘Save Menu’ button to store your changes.
Selling Books on Your Author’s Website
It’s crucial to prominently showcase your books on your author website. WordPress makes it incredibly easy.
Create a page called “Books” and add your book cover images with buttons that link to online stores like Amazon where readers can purchase them.
You can also display your newest book on the front page with a call-to-action button that leads readers to an online retailer.
For step-by-step instructions, see our guides on how to add and align images and how to add buttons in WordPress.
If you only sell ebooks as digital downloads, check out our tutorial on how to sell ebooks in WordPress.
Promoting Your Author Website
Now that your author website is set up, it’s time to promote it! This will not only increase book sales but also establish your author name as a brand. Here are some essential promotion strategies:
1. Start Your Email Newsletter
Not everyone visiting your website will buy your books immediately. An email newsletter allows you to stay in touch with readers and potential readers. It’s a way to share news, announce upcoming releases, and provide exclusive content.
WordPress works with all major email marketing services. I recommend Constant Contact for beginners due to its user-friendly interface.
For more details, see our tutorial on how to start your newsletter.
A large subscriber base helps you negotiate better book contracts in the future.
2. Grow Your Email List Quickly
Simply adding a signup form to your website isn’t enough to grow your email list quickly. You need to actively promote it and encourage readers to sign up. OptinMonster is the perfect tool for this. It’s industry-leading conversion optimization software that converts website visitors into subscribers and customers.
OptinMonster offers lightbox popups, slide-in popups, header & footer banners, countdown timers, and more. These tools help you capture more emails and grow your newsletter.
For more tips, see our guide on quickly growing your email list.
3. Optimize WordPress SEO for Author Website
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) helps you attract free traffic to your website from search engines. To optimize your website, you need All in One SEO for WordPress. It’s the best WordPress SEO plugin, making optimization easy without technical knowledge.
The best part is that it includes schema markup, which tells search engines that your website represents a person with your photo. It also has a powerful Author SEO addon that allows you to showcase your expertise, experience, and authority. You can specify details like your education, job title, employer, areas of expertise, and more.
By establishing your credentials, you meet Google’s E-E-A-T content guidelines, boosting your search engine rankings. All in One SEO also monitors your site’s SEO score and provides actionable recommendations for improvement.
For detailed instructions, see our step-by-step guide on how to properly set up All in One SEO for WordPress.
4. Add Contact Forms
Your author website isn’t just for promoting books; it’s also a place to generate business opportunities, get reader feedback, and build your brand. Adding a contact form makes it easy for readers to reach out to you.
WPForms is the best WordPress contact form plugin, offering a simple drag-and-drop form builder. It includes features like entry management, user surveys, real-time polls, instant notifications, form templates, and spam protection.
5. Sell Online Courses and Subscriptions
Many authors, especially in self-help, health, nutrition, and business, now offer online courses and exclusive members-only content on their websites. This adds another revenue stream. To add this feature, install and activate MemberPress.
MemberPress is the best WordPress membership plugin. It lets you sell subscriptions, restrict content to paid users, and sell online courses. You can accept online payments, set up recurring payments, add course content, set up drip content rules, and much more.
For more details, see our guide on how to build a membership website or our tutorial on selling online courses for beginners.
6. Track User Activity on Your Author Site
Once your website is up and running, you’ll want to track its performance to see what’s working and what needs improvement. You can easily track website statistics with MonsterInsights. It’s the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress, making it easy to install Google Analytics.
MonsterInsights provides easy-to-understand reports within your WordPress dashboard. These reports show you where your users are coming from and what they’re doing on your website. It also tracks conversions for your forms, buttons, eCommerce, and more. This data helps you optimize your website to boost conversions, get more people to sign up for your newsletter, buy your books, or join your membership program.
For more plugin recommendations, see our complete pick of the essential WordPress plugins for all sorts of websites.
Conclusion
Creating a professional author website in WordPress is easier than you might think. It’s an investment that will pay off for years to come. By following these steps, you’ll have a website that showcases your work, builds a community, and helps you achieve your author goals. Remember, it’s not just about having a website; it’s about using it effectively to connect with your readers and build a thriving author career.
FAQs
How much does it cost to create an author website in WordPress?
The cost of creating an author website in WordPress can vary depending on your hosting plan, theme selection, and plugins. You can get started for under $100 per year with a basic hosting plan and a free theme. However, if you opt for premium hosting, a paid theme, and several plugins, the cost can increase. It’s essential to consider your budget and prioritize features that will support your author website’s goals.
What are the best WordPress themes for authors?
There are many great WordPress themes for authors. Look for themes with a clean layout, ample white space, and features specific to authors, such as book showcases, blog sections, and contact forms. Here are some popular options: [Include a list of recommended themes here.]
How can I promote my author website effectively?
There are many ways to promote your author website. Focus on building an email list, utilizing social media, engaging with readers in online communities, guest posting on other websites, and optimizing your website for search engines (SEO). Consistency and quality content are key to a successful promotion strategy.
How can I sell books on my author website?
You can sell books directly on your author website using plugins like Easy Digital Downloads or WooCommerce. However, if you primarily sell books through online retailers like Amazon, you can link to those retailers from your website using buttons or links. This approach keeps the sales process simple and allows you to leverage existing platforms.
What are some essential WordPress plugins for author websites?
Essential plugins for author websites include: [Include a list of essential plugins here.]
How can I track the performance of my author website?
You can track website performance using Google Analytics. Install the MonsterInsights plugin to easily integrate Google Analytics with your WordPress website. This plugin provides detailed reports on your website’s traffic, visitor behavior, and conversions.
Can I create an author website without any coding experience?
Absolutely! WordPress is designed to be user-friendly, and you don’t need coding knowledge to create a beautiful and functional author website. WordPress themes and plugins provide a visual interface for website building, and there are countless resources available to help you along the way.
What are some tips for designing an author website?
Design your website with your readers in mind. Use high-quality images, create a clear and concise navigation menu, and focus on presenting your work in a visually appealing and engaging way. A minimalist design with ample white space can improve readability and create a professional look.
How can I create a unique author brand?
Developing a unique author brand involves defining your target audience, understanding their needs, and expressing your personality and voice through your website, social media, and writing. Think about what makes you stand out, what values you want to represent, and how you want your readers to feel when interacting with your work.
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