Actively Work to Show your Presence on the Web

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief for Southern Writers Magazine

One of the avenues some authors overlook is a website.  If you are wondering why authors need a website think of it in these terms.

People live in houses, and in those houses are rooms. Each of these rooms has a function. We need each of these rooms. You wouldn’t build a house and leave out a kitchen any more than you would build a house and leave out the bathroom or a bedroom. However, the house is the base where these rooms are placed. Right? In other words, you don’t build separate rooms apart from the house on the lot.

Hence, your house is your website. On that website are rooms, one of the rooms is a blog. One room is your event room; one room is your book room, and so on. You can add as many rooms to your house as you want. 

Let me tell you a secret–the more rooms you have the longer someone stays in your house because they want to see what is in each room.

As with building any house, you can have an inexpensive house, average house or a mansion. That is up to you. You can build it or you can hire someone to build it or take advantage of sites that offer you a house. The nice thing about houses is you can add-on anytime; you can redecorate, whatever you choose whenever you choose.

You want your website (house) to deliver results. It can’t if people have no house to visit and linger in. You know, to get to know you–your style.

You sure want your website (house) to look professional but when your visitors come inside you can decorate a room or two kind of cute and whimsical. However, you need other rooms decorated with professional looking and with good functionality. You want to acquire new fans/readers of your books so make sure each room has the ability to inspire them to become a fan of you and your books.

Check out other websites and see what they have built. What seems to be working for them? Do their sites make you want to stay around awhile and check it out?

If you have your Web-house, email the site address so others can visit.

Have fun building and decorating your Web-house.