How Much Good Would a Website Do...

 How much good would a website do if a website could do good? That reminds me of the old tongue twister, “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”

Does a website really help a writer? What purpose does it serve? Is it worth the time and effort of keeping it up?

I recently had to rebuild my website and for a brief moment I thought about discontinuing it. However, I believe a website is an absolute necessity in this time of Internet marketing and promoting. Even if an author does nothing but personal appearances, the website still matters. If you’re an author without a big presence in the book world and someone sees you’re going to make an appearance, they’re likely going to try to look you up on the Internet. But what if there’s no website? They might find bits and pieces about you, but they won’t see enough. You may have just lost a potential fan.

Your website is your chance to tell readers about yourself, about your books, about your hobbies and interests, your publisher, or whatever you think the public should know about you. For instance, Sandi Webster, the protagonist in one of my series, enjoys vintage movies. Consequently, I added a Vintage Movie Page to my website. It not only gives me an excuse to watch old movies (mysteries, in particular), but it gives guests on my site something different to check out. I won’t put a movie on the page that I didn’t like, sticking with films I enjoyed. Even if a visitor tries one of the movies and doesn’t like it, at least it gave them something new (but still old) to try. And it’s a way to connect with people.

I enjoy photography, even though I’m an amateur. I’ve put a Photo Page on my website. I put up some of my photos, and occasionally I include historical pictures of interest taken by others.

I try to add things to my website that might keep people coming back to see what’s new. As you can see it’s not totally about books, although that is the main focus.

I’ve added a video on the Home Page that quickly shows the viewer all of my book covers, and on The Books Page I’ve included some movie trailers. I have to admit that I’m not a professional, but the trailers were a lot of fun to build. Also, not as a professional, I’ve taken to creating my own book covers. Also fun, and frustrating at times.

Is it worth the time and effort? It sure is. I don’t know that my website promotes the sale of my books, but I have had enough comments from visitors so that I know I’m at least entertaining and connecting with people.

I’m not a computer guru, nor am I an Internet expert, so building my website and updating it is time-consuming and takes a great deal of effort on my part. I just spent the better part of a week rebuilding my website. There were some frustrating moments, but I finally put it all together.

If you’re reading this post, please take a moment to check out my website at http://www.marjamcgraw.com/, if you haven’t already seen it. You might find it entertaining and informative. If you’re contemplating going to a book signing, check out the author’s website first. You can certainly learn something about the author’s style by the way they’ve prepared their site.

As a reader, how do you feel about websites? Do you feel they add something to the author’s promotional efforts?

Now I need to check out a site because I’m contemplating attending a book signing soon.

Until next time, wishing you a week of good reading and interesting websites.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com

Remember, Choosing One Moment – A Time Travel Mystery, is a mystery, and has time travel added for flavor. Hmm. Maybe I’ll do a book trailer for this story. That might be fun.

 

Proud American