12 Actions Every Author Must Take Before Launching His/Her Indie Publishing Website

Websites don’t have to be fancy to be effective. Your website needs to have 12 essential qualities to market your book effectively.

1. Write a Great Headline.

Give visitors something to identify with. Hook them into reading more. This begins with identifying who your visitor is most likely to be. Target that person! If you don’t, you’ll keep very few on your page, if you attract anyone at all.

You might use your book title as your headline, especially if it’s your first book. This works if your book title is compelling. If it isn’t, consider a headline that emphasizes the compelling message of your book.

If you plan to write more than one book, consider choosing a headline which fits your book genre.This content is for members only.This content is for members only.

12. Optimize For Search Engines.

One of the reasons I really like WordPress is the ease with which I can perform this vital function. Choose a keyword for each page on your website. Use it in your page title. Use it once or twice in the body of the written content. Use it in the URL.

Write a 150 to 160 character description of what is on the page.

Write a slightly different excerpt if your theme supports it.

Summary

It might seem overwhelming at first to think that there are 12 things you must do to have an effective book marketing website. Fortunately, many of these actions are one-off tasks. For example, the structural components of a website are there permanently once they are put in place. You only have to put the navigation and site search features in place once. While you may revisit your ‘About’ and ‘FAQ’ pages, they’re there.

Other aspects of your site include ongoing action. You’ll always want to focus on great headlines and excellence in everything you publish on your website. It’s easy to forget the importance of including calls to action, yet it’s an important habit to develop.

SEO work is ongoing. You’ll use social media and SEO plugins such as WordPress SEO by Yoast every time you add content to your site.