When you want to know something about your favorite celebrity, company or product what is the first thing that you do? If you're anything like me, you will head straight to your closest computer and hop online to see what you can find. Millions of people do this exact same thing every single day of the week and that is the easiest and most excellent reason that every writer, especially those of us who would like their name to be known, should have a website.
#1: For Contact Purposes - If someone needs to contact you - a fan, someone interested in hiring you, someone wanting to purchase something you have written, etc. - the easiest way for them to find you, if they don't already know you personally, is by searching for your name online. If you already have a website then they will be more likely to find you and a way to contact you. You should always have some sort of contact information on your website. You don't have to list your complete mailing address with home phone number. Just add an email address and you will be set.
#2: To Showcase All of Your Work in One Place - Most writers will have work in numerous locations, both online and off, so having a website will help you to showcase all of your work in one location. You can show everyone who visits your site exactly where they can find things that you have written. It is much easier to give people one single website address, that leads them straight to your website, over trying to give them the numerous site addresses, that lead to all of the work you have out there in the world.
#3: For Business Cards - There is a common item when it comes to business cards, website addresses. Sure they have the person's name and maybe even their phone number, but one of the most common additions to a business card is the person's website address. The majority of people would prefer to check out your information online before they would bother calling you on the phone. Once you have created your own website, be sure to add the address to your business cards.
#4: For Fan Interest - Last, but not least, you can think about fan interest. Sure, you may think that you don't have fans, or you will never have fans, but you never know. If you have people reading your work then you can almost always ascertain that you have at least one or two fans in that group. A fan-base does not happen over night. It takes time to build up a following and when that happens your fans will want a place that is all about you. Fans enjoy reading about their favorite writers/authors. You never know when something of yours will explode on the web and send thousands of page views in your direction.
Some of you may be worried about the expense of having your own website. Well, I can tell you right now that the expense far outweighs the benefits. You can purchase your domain name for only a few dollars per year. I purchased mine, ChristieSilvers.com for only $7.95 per year and have been thrilled with that purchase ever since. There are numerous places to purchase domain names very cheaply, all you have to do is search for them and compare prices.
I also have hosting for my website on Yahoo! Geocities. I have found their site to be one of the all-time easiest sites to work with when it comes to building your own website and their prices are very reasonable - FREE and up. There are nearly just as many web hosting sites online as there are domain purchasing sites, so just keep looking until you find the one that is right for you.
Having your own website doesn't have to be a huge ordeal. You don't have to have some extravagant site filled with flash graphics and web forms. All you need is a nice, organized place to share with the world. Good luck out there, to all of us!
No comments:
Post a Comment