How To Build An Author Website

Author websites! I have FEELINGS about them! And lots of knowledge!

This video is a comprehensive overview of why you need an author website, buying a domain, where you can and should build your site, how much it can/will cost, what I think is a waste of money vs. what is a good investment, the best website platform for authors, how and where I built my website AND MORE. At the end, I have my key recommendations for each type/price point with a snazzy on-screen demonstration.

Here are time-stamps, as promised, so you can jump the sections of the video that will help you most.

2:19 Buying a domain
4:26 What you should have on your author website
8:19 where should you build your website? (overview of website builders vs. self-hosted)
9:24 Website builders in-depth (free and paid)
12:55 Tumblr & Squarespace overview (my recommendations)
15:25 Self-hosted overview (how I built my website!)
19:00 What I pay for self-hosting + themes & downsides to self-hosting
20:31 Hiring a professional website designer (spoiler: need to be self-hosted)
22:41 Key recommendations with on-screen demonstration

Website options mentioned (good and bad)
wordpress.com
blogger.com
wix.com
weebly.com
tumblr.com
squarespace.com
eboundhost.com
elegantthemes.com
wordfence.com/ (security plug-in for Wordpress.org

Sample author websites on recommended platforms used/mentioned in video

Free/Tumblr
agentthao.tumblr.com/

Squarespace
rschaefferbooks.com
victoriaaveyard.com/

Self-hosted
alexadonne.com
susandennard.com

Professional author website designers
websydaisy.com/author-websites/
iceydesigns.com/

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