THE Group for Authors! discussion

I am new to website building and think that I did okay. I'm looking for second, third, fourth opinions on what others think. Looking for ways to improve, things to remove, ect.

www.mlsmith.org

I think you have done a good website....keep it lively, that is to post something on a regular basis, maybe once a week , once a month etc. Maybe you write something about your forthcoming new books, what you are writing about etc. Keep it up.

https://sites.google.com/site/georgec...

You are so gracious to take the time and look it over for me. I was told to change the cover photo to make it more appealing. Do you agee?

Maybe you could put a photo of yourself writing a book (just an idea) or the photo cover of your first book (and later you could add other photos of your future books)...just be creative and make it appeal to your audience. be encouraged...

https://plus.google.com/1143818027939... view my google account to understand what I meant re photos.

Monica wrote: "I am new to website building and think that I did okay. I'm looking for second, third, fourth opinions on what others think. Looking for ways to improve, things to remove, ect.

www.mlsmith.org"
I think you've done a very nice job. You may want to consider adding a page for book-club type questions and attach pictures (stock or your own) to blog posts. I can't remember if you had a blog on your menu, but I was told to combine my blog and website. You can also combine that to your author's website if you are on facebook.
Gary

Hi, Monica,
I like your set-up a lot. It is open and looks friendly. Also, the muted colors (the foggy day behind the foliage and bird) are comfortable. (LOVE the bird! Is there a story behind that bird, or why you chose that image?)

I think you should use a different photo of yourself on your homepage. Your background (inside of your car) doesn't tell us anything about you, and your chin gets blurry. I think, too, that this image is a little bit out of proportion - too big - for the page.

The photo you use on your "The Author" page is quite engaging, and I'd consider using it on your home page, if you don't have a different one for the home page. Although you look right at home in this photo with it being on the author page, which is a very good place to have such a photo. (You look so much like my oldest brother's wife that it kind of startled me, in a wonderful way!)

The only other comment I have is that the yellow text on the home page gets lost in the lighter parts of the background. Maybe you can put a shadow on the text, or change the color, to make it easier to read your name.

I have been putting together ideas to get my own website built and up, and I like your format very much, so I may play copy-cat and design something with the same structure.

Congratulations to you for making this big step! I'd call it a success!

Thank you for the feedback....it is appreciated. I changed the picture on the home page and the bird is only a back ground picture that was extremely hard to work around...lol Could you take a second look for me and tell me if it is better?

Thank you

Yes, I think that's better. The new homepage photo does have some fuzziness to it, but I think it could be hard to compete with the incredible sharpness of the background/bird image.

That's one of the amazing things about this age of electronics: you can change things around in a few minutes.

I have done (and currently do) drafting in several engineering fields, and in the days before electronic drafting, when we drew everything by hand - on paper, on plastic film, even on linen - we had to plan carefully, so that we didn't blow the project budget by having to erase everything we had previously drawn to make room for a revision. One fellow I worked with had a funny motto that rang with more truth than most people realized: "Never draft more in one day than you can erase in the last half-hour of the day."

(I still really like that bird...)

The site looks great. May I suggest not listing your e-mail address on the home page, especially what looks like a personal address? The spambots will have a field day.

If you can set up a contact form, that's best for you (although it may discourage people who want to reach you). But at least set up and list an author-only address: [email protected], for example. That will be all over the Internet anyway, so the spambots will find it whatever you do.

Excellent suggestion!

I have tried several times to enter a contact for to catch email addresses and unfortunately the website that I am using don't offer that options. I have even tried importing one and it doesn't work. So then I turned to mail chimp and became more confused. Anything else I can do?

Is it normal to add other authors to your page as well? Like a link to their page in your features section.

Monica wrote: "I am new to website building and think that I did okay. I'm looking for second, third, fourth opinions on what others think. Looking for ways to improve, things to remove, ect.

www.mlsmith.org"

Monica, I'm the last one to go to for critical appraisal of anything technological but from a novice's POV I found your website warm and engaging. The graphics are eye-catching and photos as well. Book description interesting and to the point. Did you do it yourself?

Monica wrote: "I have tried several times to enter a contact form to catch email addresses and unfortunately the website that I am using don't offer that options. I have even tried importing one and it doesn't wor..."

The easiest thing might be to set up a Gmail (or any free) account as mlsmith.author or something like that. Then you could list that address on a page called Contact. The idea is to keep the address you give to friends and family private and list something that is unique to your author persona. You can further distance it by writing it on the site as mlsmith dot author at [whatever] dot com, but I never know if that actually helps. You do want some way for people to contact you, so that address will be available no matter what.

The advantage of Gmail is that it has pretty good spam protection, although you do have to monitor it. But often website hosts will let you specify an e-mail address associated with the site, which is even better.

MailChimp is for sending newsletters, I think. I don't know much about it, but one of my writer friends uses it to send newsletters for our small press.

Jan wrote: "Monica wrote: "I am new to website building and think that I did okay. I'm looking for second, third, fourth opinions on what others think. Looking for ways to improve, things to remove, ect.

www...."

I did do it myself although it took a week to complete. I can type 65//70 wpm, I can google anything, but building a website was a whole new monster for me. I did use a template and still took a long time to complete.

You guys don't know it, but it means a lot that you guys are taking time out of your day to help me to get where you are.

Thank you so much!

Monica wrote: "I am new to website building and think that I did okay. I'm looking for second, third, fourth opinions on what others think. Looking for ways to improve, things to remove, ect.

www.mlsmith.org"

Well done.....i can see that you have already improved your website.....it is much much better now...wishing you all the best and success...regards george

Ok, so it's not the pretties thing I have ever saw, but I finally got the e-mail/sign up part to work. The only problem is one will have to figure out the image part of it. Do you think this will work?

The only thing I would suggest when I see the site is remove the contact page. Make it so if they want to contact to either email you, use Facebook/Twitter to message you.

I've learned if you go with sites that host it for you instead of hosting your own they do not offer any protection like IP blocking. I was recently forced to remove the contact page on mine because of Spammers and there is no protection, you can not block, ban people from using that form. You only need one or two people and they can spam up you inbox with really nasty stuff.

Again it is a case of few spoiling it for the many. However it keeps me secure. It isn't like I don't like negative comments. I am talking about Harassment, Terrorist Threats. Where I was told that I would have to get my local police to contact my hosting company to get them to ban these people. Because they wouldn't just by me submitting the evidence.

So I removed the page, kept my staff page members only. People that want to talk to me know how.

I see I'm a bit late to your post but will offer what I can anyway. I like the pages, love the cover photo. It just says, "Hi there, I'm Monica. Welcome." I've had extensive experience designing websites, but keep in mind, YOU must like the page. So any suggestions I offer are only suggestions.

I agree with the above comments, keep your private email private. Setup a gmail account, or other email just for your page. I've been hit with spambots on my site and if you have it set to your private address, you'll be inundated.

I like the links for the poems and book, but it isn't intuitive that you must click on it to see the entire chapter, or your poems. To be more clear, when you click on the Chapter Updates tab, see the picture of your handsome husband, the first two lines of the poem are visible. Nothing is present to indicate a 'click' to see more. I don't know what your site provider has available, but I'd do something simple like add a More... where people will click. (not a button, that would distract from the page)

I'd also dim (or wash out) the background picture (the flowers) to make them still visible, but not quite so sharp.
I hope this helps. You've done a great job putting the site together though.

Ive had a website for about a year. Im interested in ways to drive traffic to my book Woman First Mother Second. Just wondering if its my website design or my content that is too much. My site is www.authornicolewalker.com I would appreciate the feedback and suggestions.

What a beautiful picture of you on the opening page! I really like that! And the background/wallpaper, which looks like warm stone or parchment paper, is very attractive.

The Churchill quote gets lost against the darker parts of your photo - I wonder if you might be able to replace the black text in those areas with white text in the same font (maybe placing the white text on top of the black). Or it may work just as well if it is pulled below your photograph onto the wallpaper.

I like the set-up of the following pages, too, most inviting. I want to know more about this lovely lady! (You should correct "yard sell" to "yard sale" in your "The Author" page, and I think I would change "young adults" to "young-adult".)

The idea of posting images with bits of the book blurb is great! I agree with Kevin above about adding a "More..." link to the excerpts, for those of us who are not very electronically intuitive.

Nice job, Monica!

Maybe think about posting some things from experts in the area of your interest. You don't have to write all the posts and both expert and personal info can be great for the reader. Is it possible to make the page fill the whole area? Is pink the only color people associate with disease? People have to bond with your presentation of expertise from different areas. It can't be all a bout your name and so forth. I think you have done a great website and that tweaking it will make it greater! Best wishes and hope you do wonderfully well. MJ

Thank you MJ, I really appreciate your feedback. Ive always felt somethings were missing, just didnt know what. You really made me think. I see where you are coming from about the pink and my presentation of expertise. It needs to be broader with experts who support those claims? Could elaborate what you mean that people have to bond with presentation of expertise from different areas?

Nicole, do some research. This is a huge area where people will be interested and sometimes desperate for help. Just post articles that are designed to help women in addition to your own expertise. Give them credit and list the publication and writer you quote. This will give you credibility and make it so all the website is not heavy in your hands. Always include the URL at the end. People are frightened and need experts they can trust to solve their problems. If you don't trust the expert don't post them. You are doing a great job but it is a big one. People bond with persons they trust and not every person who is an expert is trustworthy. Bless you and take a deep breath. Hugs

Thank you so much for explaining, I totally understand now. That makes perfect sense. I will definitely be working on those website changes.

Bless you. Have a good sleep and we all struggle with writing. It is worth it.

'siyo eveyone! I too would love to have your feedback on my website as well. This was my very first attempt at building my very own author website. If anyone here has the time to visit it and give me your honest opinion, I sure would appreciate it!

www.sharronandrades.com

Wado (Thanks),

Sharron

Very pretty but I could not get the info. Looks nice. I would like to get the parts that are offered. Good work.

Hi MJ. What info were you not able to get?

And thank you for your insights, really appreciated. ..

You have a beautiful and functional website! I noticed a few small places that could use proofreading, and the "Facebook" on the side is upside down. Also, I didn't find any poetry under that section, but maybe you haven't uploaded those yet? I enjoyed reading your bio and watching the news story on your family, and I thought including the first chapter of your book was very wise. Overall, it is a very intriguing introduction to you and your fantasy novels! Congratulations!

Your website is simply amazing. I enjoyed thumbing through it.

O wow! So, so, so happy to.read your comments, really! As for my poetry, I hadn't uploaded any just yet but will tonight. Thank you Monica, Tasha and MJ... Sweet!

The website is appealing, nicely done. You and your family have such a moving story; I wonder if there is a way to feature it more prominently. Good work, Sharron, and wishing you all the best with your book.

Nice and clean. I think I'd recommend a different color scheme, but that is just personal preference.

You'll want to eventually "do more" with your sidebars; I'm not sure what, exactly, but it ends up as a lot of negative space right now.

Josh, I really appreciate your thoughts. I also am trying to figure out what I can with them.

Thank you

Elyce, you flatter me! We were homeless for a brief time, but during that time God moved in our lives. Now, here we are with our first fantasy novel, amen... So happy!

Sharron wrote: "'siyo eveyone! I too would love to have your feedback on my website as well. This was my very first attempt at building my very own author website. If anyone here has the time to visit it and give ..."

I loved the background, the opening book is nice. I might go with different font as well. Might be easier on some eyes, And as others stated it would be improved by more information and sidebars. Possibly adding widgets. But all in all, you have a nice website and wonderful writings.
Nicole W.

Evening Nicole,
Thank you for your review. "Wonderful writings" Wow... I have to tell you, after reading everything that you wrote I have to admit that, that is what sticks out to me most! Question for you, which did you enjoy the most? Wow and thank you! Now back to the website, lol... I appreciate your thoughts, and I will work on the side bar. I'm wondering as to what else I can add to it. Any suggestions are very welcome and most wanted.

Wado (Thank you)

Sharron

Hello Sharron,
Writings I was referring to was what you wrote on your home page, its inviting. As well when you talk about the younger years. To me writings can me anything because writers write so much. I believe social media widgets like twitter and facebook for readers to find you elsewhere would be good. A goodreads widget would be nice to add. My website is www.authornicolewalker.com, its always good to check out author websites. I have looked at a ton. In addition if you want a look at the discussion between MJ and myself. I am in the process of making changes to my website after getting wonderful advice from her. I wish you well with your website, it isnt easy website building but you will get the hang of it.
Nicole H.

There's a podcast and blog site called authormedia, who have a really good episode on author websites. They recommend WordPress but I don't agree with their advice on using the hosted version rather than the free one.

One bit of advice that I took from that podcast and that I recommend is to make your homepage about your books, or even just about your latest ones. Half your traffic is to your home page.

Kevin,
Thats a good idea, i will change my home page. As far as sites for websites, i dont use wordpress. Do have a free blog. But Ive tried free websites and didn't offer enough features. Godaddy was too expensive. I currently have a paid website from hostbaby and they are affordable.
Nicole H.

My WordPress homepage is about my book. The blogs are designed to give info about my topic and in support of my book. It makes me able to have hundreds and hundreds of articles of interest. That works for me. Next book in the works and still working at this point tonight. I post a lot of articles to educate and help people and I use experts, people who have experienced my topic, and my own writing. Best to all, especially in NY and Boston. Horrible weather.

I think there are a lot of great ideas here!

I agree about having your home page be all about your book, but I do have a question on this. I became an author through my 'real whole food message' and my website was never intended to be an author website.

I have now grown into writing a series on whole real foods and I'm wondering if I need to change my website look and feel. http://www.oldcitysalts.com.

I'm looking forward to exploring your author sites and being inspired by great ideas!

All the best,
Stephanie

I looked at your website and really like it. It does have a picture of your book on it. I don't see why you have to change anything except add pictures of your new books.
My website is all news stories collected from other writers In the media and newspapers. Every once in awhile I make a tweet with the book cover that is from a website blog. So I am doing basically what you are doing. My blogs support the material in my book and that's what I focus on. www.buytherememberedself.com
You dwell on food (BTW, love your ideas and do them myself in food related stuff) and I dwell on news.. Best to You! Down with the GMOs.

Nine children! (Website looks fine to me, more professional-looking than mine.)

Stephanie, I post all my blogs on twitter and FB. Do you use them? I think tweeting recipe links and so forth would be really popular. If you want the delicious food to be seen in a picture I imagine you already know to go to the "Home" on the top left and in the "What's going on or happening" box click the little camera and you can enter a picture of your latest yummy goodies and a link to the website. That is a lot less labor intensive than blogging tweets everyday. You probably already know this but I never know what might help a person. Your topic is so valuable and timely and I really love it.