And there’s a reason it’s currently the most popular website platform out there. But the people behind WordPress made a mistake when it came to making sure people understand the difference between their two primary offerings, and you need to understand what that difference is:

1. WordPress (often referred to as WordPress.org) is open source content management system software that runs on your web hosting server.
2. WordPress.com is a network of blogs that runs on that software on WordPress.com’s web hosting server(s).

Even that explanation is confusing if you don’t know what I’m talking about. So let me break it down for you…

Let’s start with WordPress.com:

• Like Blogger or Tumblr, WordPress.com allows you to create a blog-based website quickly. By default, it will “live” at ______.wordpress.com — but the people behind WordPress have kindly added a bonus add-on feature that allows you to get a domain name from them, and point it to your WordPress.com site. That means that you can get a domain name like, “thisismydomainname.com” and connect it up to your WordPress.com site and that is where your site will now “live.”
• WordPress.com allows you to use a bunch of templates/themes that they make available to change the way your site looks and those templates allow you to do things like add your own logo to the top of the page and make other basic changes to personalize your site. And for a little extra money, you can get in there and make some additional customizations if you know what you’re doing (ie: you’re comfortable with making code changes). But it doesn’t let you do whatever you want to your site. You can’t add functionality to the site or change what’s there or completely customize the layout. They intentionally limit what’s possible to keep it simple and easy-to-use. This means that aside from the small changes you can make, your website might look very similar to many other websites out there. That’s not necessarily a bad thing in all cases, but it is something to consider.
• WordPress.com is primarily for blog-based websites. Yes, you can add static pages, and tailor your site to be a portfolio-site or a news-based site, but primarily it’s optimized for people who plan to generate content via a blogging model. And they make it easy for you to connect your WordPress.com blog to your social media profiles, which is nice.
• To edit your site and add blog posts, you’ll login to your account at WordPress.com where you’ll have access to a dashboard that allows you to see some statistics about your site in addition to creating and editing content for the blog and website pages.
• To sum up: if you’re looking for a quick, easy and inexpensive way to create a website yourself in which the blog will be an important feature, and customization isn’t that important to you, WordPress.com is a great option for you.

So, what’s different about WordPress, the software?:

• You can install the same software that runs all WordPress.com sites on your own web hosting server (purchased from a service like Bluehost.com or GoDaddy.com). You will either download it from WordPress.org and follow their installation directions or some web hosts provide a button when logged into your web hosting account that handles the install for you.
• Once it’s installed, you will access it via your own domain name at an address like: mydomainname.com/wordpress/wp-admin — there you will have access to your dashboard where you can control absolutely everything about how the site looks and behaves.
• Because WordPress is open-source software, there’s a huge community of people designing templates/themes for it and creating special functionality you can add to it, called plugins. You can use freely available themes, you can purchase “premium” themes, or you can build yourself a custom theme. Plugins are also freely available, or you can purchase premium plugins.
• Often, free and premium themes allow you to tailor your site to make it look and behave differently than anything you could do with a WordPress.com site. Some even allow you to easily turn your site into an ecommerce site or a learning management system (for example). And while they often allow you to make some customizations to the themes (add your own logo, choose a color palette, turn on/off different areas of the site), you’ll still be somewhat limited by a theme you purchase when it comes to what you can make your site look like & do. This isn’t necessarily bad because there are some *great* premium themes out there that will make a wonderful site — so if you do your research to find one that does everything that you need and you love the way that it looks, it can be a great way to get a site up and running pretty quickly.
• If you choose to build a custom theme, or hire someone to do this for you (this is the majority of what I do these days!) the sky is the limit. With a custom theme you can make the site behave the way that you want, look exactly how you want, and you are in complete control of the code behind it.
• Plugins are little pieces of software you can add to WordPress to add functionality easily. For example, there are plugins that enhance the security of your site, or make social media sharing easy, or enhance your SEO, or to integrate something like Twitter or Facebook into your site. Not all plugins are 100% awesome, however, nor do they all work together perfectly with all themes, so proceed with caution.
• Both the WordPress software and the plugins that you install will be updated regularly — just like you update the software on your computer or your phone as new software becomes available. You’ll be notified when new updates are available from your dashboard & it’s easy to install the updates there too. The updates are primarily to fix bugs and add new features.
• To sum up: If you want more flexibility when it comes to your website in terms of the way it looks and the way it behaves you need WordPress installed on your web hosting server. Premium themes are a great option if you’re on a limited budget and you find one that looks and behaves the way that you want. Custom themes, while more expensive, are the way to go if you want to really be in control of the way your site looks and what functionality it provides.

You may be wondering why you would choose WordPress.com over WordPress installed, in that the installed version gives you so many more options. Something to consider is that it might give you too many options, and therefore create unnecessary complexity for you in terms of managing your site. It’s important to balance the desire you have for freedom of choice with a realistic assessment of your time, skill and budget when it comes to deciding what’s right for you.

And remember, no matter which option you choose, neither will help you figure out the best content or functionality to put on your site to make it a success. So make sure you do your research (or hire someone to help you) before you get started!

But when you’re an author it doesn’t have to be daunting because lots of the work that goes into figuring it out has already been done for your book jacket(s).

Consider that website aesthetics, like most aesthetic considerations, are really about eliciting emotion. So, take a look at your book jacket(s) and make a list of what they say about you and your work. Do they convey strength, or softness; familiarity, or mystery; are they referencing history, or something more contemporary… You’re looking to capture the atmosphere they create, along with any common themes like strong typography or use of photographs. If you realize that your brand isn’t adequately represented, don’t feel beholden to what is conveyed by the jacket(s). Identify what’s missing, and add that to the list of what to include when designing your site.

With the information you’ve captured, you’re well on your way to knowing how to coordinate your book jacket(s) with a website.

Generally, there are two approaches:

1. When creating a site for an author with multiple books (not in a series), I recommend a somewhat neutral aesthetic and atmosphere that will work for all the books, but still conveys the overall brand successfully. Neutral color choices can still be aesthetically variable — you can have a neutral color palette that reads as strong, soft, welcoming, mysterious, etc…
2. When creating a site for a particular book or series of books, I recommend an aesthetic that is an extension of the jacket, sometimes lifting jacket design elements directly, such as fonts, colors, graphics, or photos. The aesthetics of your site can also extend the universe of the book(s) beyond the page.

Other considerations:

• If you plan to write multiple books, but are creating a website for the first one, consider that you may not want to design the site to strongly coordinate with your first book cover design, only to have to redesign the site when your next book comes out (or is reissued in paperback) because the jacket design is vastly different.
• Just like you want your book jacket design to make your book stand out on the shelf, you want your website to stand out on the web. And while you want your approach to the design of your site to be thoughtful and considered, don’t be afraid to be playful or bold with the design to bring your book to life for the site visitor. Also remember that while you want your website to be beautiful and memorable, you want people to come away from the site thinking great things about you and your book(s), not just about the website. So make sure you’re balancing the visual focus of the site so that your work is featured prominently.
• No matter what, be consistent. Together, your book jacket(s), your website, and all of your other marketing collateral help establish your brand. So make sure that in all the places that you’re marketing yourself and/or your books you’re leveraging brand recognition by coordinating design elements. For example, your Facebook page cover image is a great place to feature some design elements from your jacket and website so that people have instant brand recognition.
• And remember, coming up with an interesting and compelling look & feel for your website doesn’t have to compromise the way the website works. Most visitors will appreciate a website they can easily navigate.

A good website designer will guide you through all of these decisions, and will ensure that your site design resonates with your target audience without compromising on usability.

Case studies:

1. A website for an author of multiple non-fiction books: http://michaelklare.com

Some notes about this project:

• Michael Klare, a writer, professor, and expert in peace & world security, has written 4 successful non-fiction books on issues of global resources and security. In designing his website, I knew that the site must be a neutral backdrop for the variety of his book jacket designs, especially as they might change dramatically between the hardback and paperback releases.
• The topic of his books is heavy and dramatic, so to juxtapose that & make them seem approachable, I designed the site to be clean and light, but also with strong, earthy pops of color to bring it to life. I also selected a authoritative, crisp font, and used contrast to enhance the feeling of strength and authority.
• To create an interesting design element to set off the most recently published book, I selected a torn piece of paper — another earthy, neutral color, but also to convey Michael’s role in exposing this well-researched information as a writer and a teacher with a nod to pre-internet methods of communication (ie: writing on paper).

2. A website for an author of a series of fun, fictional stories set in India: http://www.betsywoodman.com

Some notes about this project:

• Betsy Woodman is an author writing a series of novels around a central character, Jana Bibi. This charming series is set in India, and is a fun, colorful adventure. In designing this website I not only used design elements and colors from the first book’s jacket, but also created a richer experience through the use of additional colors and more importantly, textures. By layering natural textures with hits of bright color, the site alludes to the colorful tapestry of life in India. There are multiple visual themes at play, but the site design isn’t chaotic or fussy.
• The audience for this book is primarily female, so the design is feminine, and pulls from the adventurous quality of the main character with its use of bold colors.
• Betsy also bring her own experiences of a childhood spent in India to her books, and shares her own experiences through stories and photos on her website, so the site is designed to be approachable and endearing, just like Betsy.

***

There is a common design element in these two designs, the torn piece of paper. I used these examples to show that even similar design elements can be used to very different effects in different projects.

So, if you’re looking for someone to be your web designer, you’re likely going to see lots of online portfolios. It can be overwhelming, but with some simple things kept in mind, you can increase your confidence in creating your short list of who to contact. Here’s a checklist to get you started:

• Is their site easy to use?: There are some truly beautiful websites out there, but sometimes they’re so clever that it’s tricky to figure out how to navigate to what you want. Look for clear navigation, clear titles, and clear descriptions. Is it easy to find examples of their work? Are you clear about what they do and don’t do? Is it easy to get in touch with them? The designer who provides these things on their own site, is likely to provide them on your site too.
• Is their site aesthetically pleasing to you?: Of course you want to love their sense of design, not only on their own site, but in the examples they feature of their work. The examples of their work should not only be consistently attractive, but also appropriate for your project. Someone might be really good at designing websites for restaurants, but if you’re looking for a website as a OBGYN, they might not be the best fit for you.
• Who are their typical clients?: If you have a limited budget, and are looking at a site for someone who does work regularly for Fortune 500 companies, know that they likely charge for their level of experience and skill. This isn’t to say that highly skilled designers don’t work on smaller projects with limited budgets, but keep in mind that they might be booking projects months ahead of time and likely charge more than someone who does smaller projects for individuals.
• Do they have the skill set you need?: If you’re looking for ecommerce, are there examples of ecommerce projects they’ve worked on? What about blogs? Or if you need a logo along with your website, do they do both? You want to make sure the kinds of things you want/need your website to do are demonstrated on their site.
• Are they a single person or a design firm?: Some web designers do everything (like me) — they do the planning, design & development of your site from start to finish. Others work as part of a team, ordinarily splitting the work between the design & development. With larger firms, you might have a creative director, a designer, a developer, and someone acting as a project manager. Keep in mind that the more people are involved in the project, the more it might cost, and it might also impact the length of the project schedule.
• Do they understand business decisions in addition to web design?: Your website is an important face of your business & you want to be working with someone who understands how to make sure your website will meet your business goals. Their site should talk about how they will make sure that your site is not only beautiful, but also a working solution for your business.
• Have they been doing this long?: Sometimes it’s difficult to know, but working with someone who has at least a few years of experience should help your project go more smoothly. You can certainly save money by going with someone who is a new web designer if you’re prepared to do most of the project management yourself & have a firm idea of what you want, but working with someone with some experience under their belt means that their work has allowed them to be in business for awhile with exposure to many clients, and that’s a good sign. Look for testimonials and examples of sites that you can look at live.

This list isn’t fool-proof, but it should help you get started on your search. Happy hunting!

You might be wondering what this has to do with making websites… you see, comics rely heavily on color to help tell stories, and that’s a great lesson for creating websites. Here are some examples:

Notice that the woman is set apart by a different color palette, communicating that she is disconnected from her environment, and the colors convey a sadness.

You can immediately see the differentiation between the spaces in the interior and exterior, and you can feel that these characters aren’t people you want to spend alot of time with.

This page is a flashback sequence, and the sepia coloring in the characters communicates that the memory is about the people, and not the place.

And there’s a wonderful blog about this, from Jordie Bellaire, a comic colorist. She examines color palettes both in comics and films on her site in a feature titled, “Hey, Nice Palette.”

You know this already, of course, that colors evoke a mood. So when it comes to choosing the colors for your website, in addition to the functional decisions re: display contrast and considerations for color blind users, etc… how do you decide what colors to use?

Like with many considerations when it comes to your website, you go back to the goals for the site.

If the goal of your site is to sell a product, think about who the audience for that product is and what you want them to feel about it. Remember, you’re telling your existing/potential customer a story about why your product is desirable and important to them.

As an example, lets say you sell flashlights on your website. Flashlights are often used in emergencies, such as when the power is out. So you want people to feel that your flashlight is there for them; that it’s solidly build and reliable. You want them to think that your flashlight is easy-to-use and will do the job without much intervention. So the colors you choose will convey those sentiments — strong, approachable, reliable, clean, clear. You want colors that aren’t tinted or shaded, but are vibrant and vivid. And you don’t need color saturation throughout the site, maybe just some hits of color here and there, with black and white to dominate.

Another example might be if you were selling a book — author websites, and websites about specific books should extend the visual tapestry of the book, especially in fiction. If your book is historic fiction set in the autumn, you want color saturation, with warm shades and tints throughout.

And in all cases, be sure to consider the colors you’re using in your existing branding, photos and graphics. You want everything to coexist nicely — it can be difficult to create a soft, ethereal website with a logo in black, red & white with a lime-green tinted feature photo.

And remember, your website aesthetic can be simple, clean and usable no matter what color palette you choose. White backgrounds are common, and do convey a sense of simplicity, but don’t feel boxed in by that notion. If a light grey or beige background with a subtle texture serves your website better, don’t sacrifice that because white is many people’s default choice.

Just as the text you choose, the graphics and/or photos you use, and your branding send a message, so too does the color palette of your website. It tells the story about what you and your product are all about. And it does it more quickly then just about anything else.

On top of that, there’s a decision to be made about what voice you want your website to have. Along with the aesthetic of your site, this will communicate your brand. For example, should your website be casual and approachable, but still professional? Or maybe authoritative and more formal, but not prohibitively so?

Whatever you decide, your site users will be looking for one primary thing (and quickly) when visiting your site — they’ll be asking themselves: “What will this do for me?”

We all know that writing for the web can be tricky. I work with lots of authors on their websites, and while they do prose very well, writing for the web, especially when you’re marketing a product or service, is a whole other thing. And the key to success is to make sure you’re quickly & concisely answering the question your site visitors are asking.

“What will this do for me?”

Here’s an example: Let’s say you’re an author and you’re creating a website that will feature your new book. Your goal for the site is to raise awareness of the book & sell more books, provide a community space for readers, and encourage site visitors to read & subscribe to your blog so that they’ll know when you’re doing events or even when your next book is coming out.

You’ve decided that the voice that’s right for you for this site is first person, using a casual and approachable tone. And the aesthetics of the site will support the tone.

Now it’s time for you to write up some text for the Home page of your site — you want to make sure it includes your key words, but also to tell people what it will do for them. If your book is fiction, it should take them on a journey where they’re completely wrapped up in the world and characters you’ve created, and you want this initial information to leave them wanting more. If you can demonstrate the kind of journey you’ll be taking them on in the book so that they want more of it, they’re more likely to purchase the book, or participate in a website community you’ve build around it.

(As an aside, you can do this with content besides text — you could use a video, for example.)

Often authors already have this text, because their jacket text is designed to do the same thing.

If you’re not an author, what then? Here’s another example: Let’s say you’re a high-end window installer. Your website will feature a portfolio of your work in beautiful homes and information about the products that you use. The goal is to gain new customers. The voice of the site will be professional, but still personal since your work is primarily residential.

The most important information you can give a site visitor straight away is examples of your work & information from happy customers (ie: testimonials). In addition, you want some intro text that briefly describes why working with you means quality workmanship, quality products, and how you will beautify a home. And if you’ve been in business for awhile, that you have a long-standing, proven track record of success.

***

In either example, with a little effort, you’ll craft some great messaging that will help your site meet your goals. And in all cases, after you’ve told your site visitors what you’ll do for them, tell them what to do next to get it. Examples include, “Contact me to learn more…” or “Buy Now!” …

As a bonus, here are few things that you don’t want to do:

• Write long paragraphs that don’t concisely explain your value proposition
• Leave it vague about what you’re actually selling or what your website is about
• Leave out information about what you want your site visitor to do next

If you already have a website, it’s not too late to take a critical eye to it with this info in mind. Sometimes it’s a small amount of effort that reaps the biggest rewards.

It’s funny because it’s true! How many times have you seen these same posters for one movie or another? But you know what? With a single glance, you instantly know lots of information about the movie & whether it’s something you’d like to learn more about. Wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to leverage that same idea for your business? Imagine a potential customer having the same instant recognition when they visit your website, for example, so you can capture their attention and encourage them to learn more about what you do or sell.

It’s not that simple, of course. Maybe your idea is new & there’s no precedent; maybe you’re going after a customer who doesn’t ordinarily purchase your product or service; or maybe you’re casting a wide net. But I bet with enough creative thought, you can come up with a way to design the visual presence of your business to capitalize on instant recognition to set yourself apart from the crowd.

I’m not suggesting that you appropriate existing designs as your own, nor am I suggesting foregoing a unique, creative design for your company, but I am suggesting you take a close look at what your customers already know & recognize so that you can strategically leverage it to your advantage in a way that makes sense for your company’s goals.

For example, let’s say you have a salon that specializes in removing headlice for kids. There are lots of angles you can take with that: iconic salon imagery, design that appeals to kids & parents, imagery from the medical community, etc… To narrow the field, think about your unique service and how you are different than the competition. In our example, let’s say your headlice removal salon uses natural techniques without chemicals, and keeps kids occupied & unafraid with entertainment during their appointment. That brings in some new information — parents will want to know their kids will have a good time (as much as possible given the circumstances), and that they don’t need to be worried about toxic chemicals — so any imagery will want to be fun, establish a sense of trust & comfort, and reference natural & ecofriendly materials. So take a look at websites designed for kids, specifically ones designed for them to have fun like at an activity center. What about salons for kids & ecofriendly salons? Take a look at holistic medical sites and sites for ecofriendly companies. What are common elements for each after looking at a bunch of them? Make a quick list for yourself & reference it when you’re coming up with your design.

If you’re working with a great web designer, they’ll learn from you about your business goals and do this research as part of their design process so that what they present to you is relevant & informed. But I encourage you to do this research yourself too. Keep yourself informed about trends that affect your brand recognition & take action to make sure you’re not losing out when it comes to instant brand recognition.

Thank you to Travis Pitts, an awesome freelance illustrator and designer, for allowing me to use his illustration in this blog post.

1. Having something that is working for you is better than having nothing at all. While you don’t want to launch anything incorrect, embarrassing or just plain ugly, starting small and taking a staged approach to your site means it’s working for you at every stage. By raising awareness or getting search engines tracking you for your key phrases or even just capturing emails of potential future customers you’re leveraging small amounts of work that will pay off big in the end. You can learn more about this here in my post about “Coming Soon” pages.
2. Update early, update often. Having worked in software development for years, and even just being a software consumer, I can tell you that even the most successful companies start small and learn and adjust as they grow. Angry Birds is a great example … it used to be that you had one choice, you opened it up, and launched those poor birds at those awful, smiling pigs. It was simple and gratifying. With great success for their super simple model, and feedback from users, you can now launch birds into space, or see their movie, or even buy a plush toy. Sure, this isn’t exactly the same model as launching a website, but the idea is pretty much the same. Start small and smart, learn as you go to make intelligent additions, and update early and often.
3. It’s not permanent, it’s the web. Again, we’re not talking about untrue or embarrassing content here, we’re talking about regular site content … you’re not going to print presses where any mistakes or omissions will forever be in the hands of your audience with great expense to change them. You can update some text on the web in a matter of minutes for no cost (if you’re doing it yourself). So, if you’re regularly getting questions from potential customers because they’re not finding the answer on your website, then change that. If you’re getting more traction from one message and not another, adjust your site to exploit that. If you only have the content for A right now, and you’ll have content for B later, then publish content A, and tell people to stay tuned for content B soon (and ask them to sign up to your email list or subscribe to your blog to be notified when it’s available). Just like you adjust your business as you and your market change, adjust your website as often as you need to.

Food for thought: Most of the sites I work on now are custom WordPress installations. WordPress as a CMS has many advantages. Chief among them is that it’s easy to update your site yourself.

Investing in a solution like WordPress from the get-go may be the best money/time you ever spend. So as you’re thinking about where to put your money and time first, think about setting yourself up on the best long-term platform you can. Once you’re on a CMS you can overhaul as much as you want or need but you won’t ever have to think about your platform again. Even if this means you start out with an out-of-the-box theme and invest in a custom theme later, your money will be well spent.

Some of those companies use “Black Hat” (ie: negative) techniques which can get you blacklisted by search engines – effectively the opposite of what you’re looking for. So how do you know who is reputable? What’s the best way forward?

Here are some tips:

• If you get an email from a company you’ve never heard of promising something too good to be true, it IS too good to be true. If it was that easy to have huge success, EVERYONE would be hugely successful. Also, if that company was as good as they say, they probably wouldn’t have to reach out to you out of the blue to drum up business. You’ll want a recommendation from someone you know, or at least a company that has great reviews on which you can follow up.
• It’s possible to get your site on the front page of Google, or visited by thousands of “people” but are these relevant metrics? If you’re on the front page of Google for a term that few people search for, that’s not particularly valuable. For example, if you’re a new author, being on the front page for your name might not give you much bang for your buck, but being on the front page for the book genre would be excellent. And if you have a massive increase in site traffic, but it’s not turning into sales or repeat traffic because the site visitors were mislead, that’s not helpful. Ask whatever company you work with to explain what they’ll do, and if it’s easy for you to understand that’s a good sign. If they spit out a bunch of gobbledygook and act like it’s over your head, they’re not who you want to work with.
• What does success actually look like? Ideally, this translates to sales of your product or service, but you need to define what you want to get out of a relationship with a search marketing firm and make sure you’re on the same page as them. Make sure you can measure results with whomever you’ll be hiring with a relevant metric for you.
• Design your site for PEOPLE not for search engines. Don’t fill your site with content just to attract search engines, and don’t listen to any firm that tells you this is a good idea. Not only will this result in a poor user experience, but search engines are smart enough to figure out if you’ve packed your site with keywords rather than actual content.
• If other sites will link back to your site, make sure they’re quality and relevant. Having links back to your site (especially from popular sites) is a great way to boost your ranking, but be discriminating. It’s not worth it to exchange links with sites that aren’t relevant to your business or where the content is questionable.
• It’s about communicating, not broadcasting. It’s about relationships with relevant, real people. Whatever path your web marketing will take it’s not something you do once and forget about. It’s also not about the old-school method of broadcasting how awesome your company is and expecting people to come knocking. Any valid modern method will involve cultivating and communicating content that’s relevant, helpful, and starts a conversation. This means you want to be involved — you want to be a part of the conversation with your existing or potential customers — not only so that relationship can turn into business, but also so that there’s not a disconnect between the way your marketing firm is representing your company and the way you want your company represented. In the best case you have complete faith in your marketing firm to handle your outreach relationships, but even then you’ll want to be part of the conversation.

Simply, your goals (online and off) as a small business owner are to raise positive awareness of your services/products and increase the number of people who contact you and then hire you, or purchase your product(s).

On the internet, this means the desired result is being on the front page of Google results for your search terms, but also strategic placement of links to your site in places that list services contextually (eg: Angie’s List).

So how do you achieve this holy grail of searchability and being listed in the right place? Here are some pointers…

• Hire someone to build or overhaul your website with your target market and business goals in mind. You can have the most beautiful website on the internet, but if it isn’t designed and built specifically for the people who you want to work with, it’s not working for you. And often, keeping things simple is best. If you’re going to lead more people to your website, make sure they know exactly what you offer and want them to do when they get there. This is often why hiring someone with experience helping businesses success and not just building beautiful websites (or using a theme and plugging in your content in the available space) is worth the extra money.
• Design and build with searchability in mind. Make sure the text of your website, especially on your key landing pages, echoes the terms people will likely search for to find you. You don’t need an SEO guru or extensive research skills to do this, just think about word combinations and phrases that your target market will use, and make sure you use and address them in your website’s text and page headers. For example, if you’re a personal trainer looking for more female clients in your city, try titling your About page “[City Name Here] Women’s Personal Trainer [Your Name Here]“
• Combine the aesthetic of your location with your area of expertise. When you’re targeting a local market with your website, you can leverage the aesthetic of your location AND the aesthetic of your chosen profession to gain instant recognition and identity for your site visitors. For example, there may be some visuals you think of that would pertain to a Florist’s website no matter where they’re located, but I’m sure you can also imagine that a Florist in Tuscon, AZ might be different than a Florist in Buffalo, NY — these visual cues will work to your advantage in the first few seconds site visitors are making up their mind as to whether your website is worth spending any time on.
• Get listed locally. There are so many places you can list a local business, but Google Places is a great place to start. If you’re not already on there, you’re missing out on a wonderful, free marketing opportunity. Encourage your existing (happy) customers to review your services on places like Google, Yelp or Citysearch. Or if there’s a more appropriate site that lists Doctors or Contractors – get yourself on those lists. Then think a little more broadly — are there local bloggers who write up services like yours? Can you offer a promotion through a local magazine (with an online edition) that will help raise awareness? What about a Groupon? There are so many options here, sometimes you just need to get a little creative… what about doing a link exchange with other, complimentary local businesses?
• Think about where your content lives. Your website will be your home base on the internet (at least for the foreseeable future), but if you had videos or photos that provided valuable information to your existing or potential customers, there are some great places to put them that will gain more exposure. YouTube is the natural place for video content — it allows you to easily embed your video content on your website or blog, just be sure to place a link back to your website in the description of the video on YouTube, and use the YouTube keywords. For photos places like Flickr, or if it pertains to your services a site like Houzz.com, are great places to host photos that will widen your reach.
• Research your competition. If there’s someone in your town with similar services and they’re getting great search traction see if you can determine why. When you search for them where are they listed? What about the kind of information they provide on their website? Do they invest in online advertising? Sometimes just a short amount of time will tell you a tremendous amount of information about what you can do for your own website.

If you don’t already have a website for your business, you have a great opportunity before you to get started on the right foot. If you already have a website, take a critical eye to it — if you’re not getting the results you want out of it, think about what you can change to move things in the right direction. It might be a handful of simple things that have a profound result.

AUTHOR SITES

Since author sites often feature many books, with lots of titles and cover art, and sometimes even widely varied topics, you want the aesthetic of the site to be fairly neutral to be able to showcase your books without competing with them. This also helps with the longevity of the site because you won’t have to redesign the next time you publish. You can certainly set a mood with the aesthetic, but you likely won’t take it as far as you would with a site dedicated to just one book. With that said, here are some specific recommendations regarding content:

• Featured Project: Whether you are a first time author or have many titles under your belt, there is often a book that either was recently published, or is about to be published. In the case that the book was recently published, promote it front-and-center with a large bookshot, an enticing blurb, and purchase options. Include a link here to a page where someone can read more about the book, or get some behind-the-scenes information or other promotional materials. And if you have a great review excerpt or testimonial – include it!
• Other Titles: If you’re truly prolific, this can be the latest (or most popular) three titles, but if you’ve got a handful of books in your biblography, a short list of these titles with smaller cover shots will let people know they’re in the right place if they’ve read you previously, and also let them know about books they may not yet have read.
• Bio Blurb: As an author site, people will want to know about the author! Include a professional headshot and a blurb about you that will lead off (via link) to a page dedicated to information about you. On that page frame the content around what lead you to writing, and why you write the kinds of books that you do and what you love about it.
• Latest News/Events: If you’re promoting your book (and why wouldn’t you?!) you’re likely going to have interviews, blog mentions, reviews and other media coverage items you’ll want to share with your audience. There should be a full list somewhere else on your site that archives everything, but the Home page can feature the latest items so that site visitors can easily learn more about what you’ve been up to recently.
• Appearances (as necessary): If you make appearances for book readings or signings, interviews or at conferences/professional events you’ll want to have a list of upcoming appearances so that your audience can easily find out the details they need to attend.
• Most Recent Blog Post (as necessary): If your site has a blog (which is a great tool to build your audience) you can place an excerpt of the most recent blog post on the Home page that is dynamically updated every time you publish. This keeps the content on your Home page fresh, and encourages people to explore the blog further & engage with your content.
• Social Media/Affiliation Links: Most people have social media profiles these days. Whether your preference is Twitter, Facebook or Google+ you’ll want to at least have a link to your profile(s) but ideally you have a Follow/Like/Add to Circles button right there on the page. Whether you also include the feed depends on how often it’s updated and whether you’re duplicating content found elsewhere on your website by doing so.
• Social Media Sharing: Different than the links to your social media profiles, you want to make it super easy for people to share your website with their friends. This should be a simple one-click button that allows people to choose their sharing service of choice (Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc..) and pass the word around. Of course people can do this by copying/pasting your URL, but why encourage it and make it easy so that more people do it?
• Newsletter Signup (as necessary): If you can commit to writing a newsletter, a newsletter signup is a must have — it allows you to keep in touch with your audience and keep them appraised of your latest goings-on. I recommend asking for an email address, no more — why risk a barrier to entry by asking for their full name or phone number? And an incentive to sign up is always nice — maybe the newsletter will include a promotion code for a discount on your latest book, or maybe the content you send out will be enough if it’s a glimpse into what’s going on with your next book? If a newsletter isn’t your style, but you want to build an email marketing list to promote your future projects, an email signup with an incentive of a sneak preview of a future title or a bonus chapter would be great.
• Bonus Materials: This is where you (and your website designer) get to be even more creative. Depending on the kinds of books you write, you might include a slideshow of photographs, or an audio file, or a YouTube video, or a quiz, or myriad other things that tie into the content of your books. Sometimes authors are experts in their field and their books are an extension of a larger career — in this case this is a great opportunity to include something interesting from the larger context of your career.
• Contact Information: Ideally this lives in the footer of the entire site, but you want to make sure it’s easy to get in touch with you from the Home page. After all, if someone comes to your site interested in booking you for an appearance or interview and they can’t find how to connect with you, that’s super bad for business. If you’re uncomfortable giving out a phone number (you can easily get a dedicated number for this via Google Voice) or an email address, point this to a page with a contact form on it, or encourage people to get in touch with you via Facebook — whatever works best for you.

BOOK SITES

There are many similarities between author and books sites, and many of the ideas above also apply to book sites. However, book websites have some special considerations including being able to focus on bringing the world of just one book to life:

• Like with author sites, things like the bookshot, blurb, purchase options and testimonials are must-haves – but since you’re focused on the world of one book you can elaborate a little bit more. Perhaps you have an audio clip of you reading a chapter? Or a video trailer? Or an excerpt? or a slideshow? On an author site these things can be included on the internal page dedicated to a particular book, but on a book site they can live right on the Home page.
• Many movie websites do a great job of creating atmosphere with the aesthetic of their websites. Granted, they have lots of visuals to work with already, but as the author of a fiction book you’ve likely imagined what the world of your book looks like. Even if it’s something like “dark and moody” or “honest and trustworthy” — these ideas can help you and your web designer come up with an atmosphere of the site that acts as an extension of the book. Even if you’re a non-fiction author, the topics of your books can influence the aesthetics of the site – check out my blog post on color & website aesthetics to learn more about that. Keep in mind here that you don’t want to go over the top and create a site that is creative but hard to navigate, or difficult to view on a mobile device. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to how people expect websites to work to create atmosphere.

I know these lists include LOTS of ideas — perhaps too much for a Home page you’re thinking? This is where working with a skilled web designer will help tremendously. By breaking these elements up into a grid with plenty of white space to keep it easy to parse, you can fit this content into a clean, easy-to-use design without compromise or overwhelm. Here are some examples of author and book sites I’ve worked on to illustrate these ideas:

1. http://chuckthompson.com
2. http://www.madeleinelengle.com
3. http://stormsofmygrandchildren.com
4. http://www.puregoldbook.com