3 Tips for Spring Cleaning Your Author Website
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Picture courtesy of Designecologist via Pexels
"Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, what do I want to do everyday for the rest of my life? Do that."
-Gary Vaynerchuk
During this tough time while we all face the coronavirus pandemic together, what have been some of your strategies to navigate through it? I've focused on learning and applying new skills in everything from setting goals and developing productive habits, to marketing, to honing my writing craft. I also want to give back by sharing what I'm learning, hence the new inspiration for --and the birth of-- my newly minted blog, #TheWriteSkills. Welcome to its very first post! Last night, the inspiration struck to do a spring cleaning and redesign of my author website. Authors, have you spruced up your online presence lately? If you're considering a fun, fresh change to your website, I hope you find some of these tips helpful. If you do, please let me know in the comments. I'd love to hear from you!
1. Research SEO Optimization
If you have a website, you know that SEO optimization is one major key to your site's discoverability because it affects its rankings in the major search engines. I'll admit, it's a topic I need to research much more than the little bit I already have. When I do understand it better, I'll put together a blog post on the topic for you all.
One of the first things I did in overhauling my website was checking for broken links. Having broken links penalizes you (yes, broken links left untended can result in a literal penalty on your website in terms of rankings by Google), and if, like me, you haven't maintained your website recently, you'll probably have some to remove. If you have a longtime blog or website with many pages, you may want to use a resource like Broken Link Checker to help you find those pesky broken links.
So, how do you improve your site for SEO? My next step was testing out some free website diagnostic tools online, such as Website Grader and SEO Checker. They turned out to be another fantastic resource, because they showed me where I was going wrong in terms of the title and website description, content length, speed of loading, and other issues affecting quality and SEO. All of this led to reorganizing the pages, and it flows better than before. Let me know in the comments what you think, whether you're new here or have visited before! Another SEO optimization tip I discovered while watching a YouTube video mentioned keyword tracking tools that provide stats on the most searched keyword terms. My favorite one so far is the Wordstream Free Keyword Tool. Using the keyword terms can be a powerful way to understand what others are searching for and optimize your content so that it's easily found in search results.
2. Select a Fresh New Look for the Website
While it was amazingly helpful to gain a greater understanding of SEO and keywords, and I'm excited to see the results as I apply what I'm learning, I love playing around with design. After trying out several banners, I finally settled on this floral look. Its calm elegance drew me in, and it fits with what I want my brand to stand for -- beauty, inspiration, and growth. In redesigning your website, it's a wonderful opportunity to think about your brand and how the overall look and feel of your site embodies that. I hope the new changes have inspired you!
3. Improve Organization and Functionality
Today I spent most of the day reorganizing and updating the website. I moved my book blurb back to the home page, deleted a "For Purchase" page, and moved all my short stories onto a single page. I deleted broken links and elements the SEO tools told me were preventing my site from loading quickly. I even created my blog's new name and wrote the description for it. I added my picture and contact icons to the blog, rediscovered my old Adsense account to hopefully add to the blog, maybe even YouTube videos someday, and I added my blog feed to my GoodReads and Amazon author profiles.
If you're thinking of working on your author website, I hope you'll find these tips useful! Let me know in the comments. If you enjoyed what you read today, leave a like and share, and be sure to tell me what other topics you'd like to see me tackle in future posts on the #writelife so I can better help to connect you with the skills, information, and resources you need.
Picture courtesy of Designecologist via Pexels"Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, what do I want to do everyday for the rest of my life? Do that."
-Gary Vaynerchuk
During this tough time while we all face the coronavirus pandemic together, what have been some of your strategies to navigate through it? I've focused on learning and applying new skills in everything from setting goals and developing productive habits, to marketing, to honing my writing craft. I also want to give back by sharing what I'm learning, hence the new inspiration for --and the birth of-- my newly minted blog, #TheWriteSkills. Welcome to its very first post! Last night, the inspiration struck to do a spring cleaning and redesign of my author website. Authors, have you spruced up your online presence lately? If you're considering a fun, fresh change to your website, I hope you find some of these tips helpful. If you do, please let me know in the comments. I'd love to hear from you!
1. Research SEO Optimization
If you have a website, you know that SEO optimization is one major key to your site's discoverability because it affects its rankings in the major search engines. I'll admit, it's a topic I need to research much more than the little bit I already have. When I do understand it better, I'll put together a blog post on the topic for you all.
One of the first things I did in overhauling my website was checking for broken links. Having broken links penalizes you (yes, broken links left untended can result in a literal penalty on your website in terms of rankings by Google), and if, like me, you haven't maintained your website recently, you'll probably have some to remove. If you have a longtime blog or website with many pages, you may want to use a resource like Broken Link Checker to help you find those pesky broken links.
So, how do you improve your site for SEO? My next step was testing out some free website diagnostic tools online, such as Website Grader and SEO Checker. They turned out to be another fantastic resource, because they showed me where I was going wrong in terms of the title and website description, content length, speed of loading, and other issues affecting quality and SEO. All of this led to reorganizing the pages, and it flows better than before. Let me know in the comments what you think, whether you're new here or have visited before! Another SEO optimization tip I discovered while watching a YouTube video mentioned keyword tracking tools that provide stats on the most searched keyword terms. My favorite one so far is the Wordstream Free Keyword Tool. Using the keyword terms can be a powerful way to understand what others are searching for and optimize your content so that it's easily found in search results.
2. Select a Fresh New Look for the Website
While it was amazingly helpful to gain a greater understanding of SEO and keywords, and I'm excited to see the results as I apply what I'm learning, I love playing around with design. After trying out several banners, I finally settled on this floral look. Its calm elegance drew me in, and it fits with what I want my brand to stand for -- beauty, inspiration, and growth. In redesigning your website, it's a wonderful opportunity to think about your brand and how the overall look and feel of your site embodies that. I hope the new changes have inspired you!
3. Improve Organization and Functionality
Today I spent most of the day reorganizing and updating the website. I moved my book blurb back to the home page, deleted a "For Purchase" page, and moved all my short stories onto a single page. I deleted broken links and elements the SEO tools told me were preventing my site from loading quickly. I even created my blog's new name and wrote the description for it. I added my picture and contact icons to the blog, rediscovered my old Adsense account to hopefully add to the blog, maybe even YouTube videos someday, and I added my blog feed to my GoodReads and Amazon author profiles.
If you're thinking of working on your author website, I hope you'll find these tips useful! Let me know in the comments. If you enjoyed what you read today, leave a like and share, and be sure to tell me what other topics you'd like to see me tackle in future posts on the #writelife so I can better help to connect you with the skills, information, and resources you need.
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