The pages you need, the platform to choose, SEO basics that actually matter, email capture strategy, and how to build a press page that gets you booked.
Start Writing on iWrityFive pages are non-negotiable. Your homepage communicates genre and brand within three seconds and directs visitors to your most important actions (buy a book, join your list). Your books page displays every title with cover images, short descriptions, and active buy links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, and wherever else you distribute. Your about page tells your author story with a professional photo and bios in both short and long formats. Your contact page gives journalists and readers a direct route to you. Your email signup page or embedded form offers a clear reader magnet. Keep navigation simple – five top-level items is the maximum before cognitive overload begins. Everything else lives in the footer or secondary navigation.
WordPress (self-hosted via WordPress.org) gives you maximum control and SEO power but requires plugin management, hosting, backups, and occasional troubleshooting. Right for: tech-comfortable authors who plan long-term content SEO. Squarespace is the fastest path to a professional, visually polished site with zero technical maintenance – templates are genre-adaptable and email list integration is built in. Right for: most debut and mid-career authors who want to launch fast and focus on writing. Ghost combines a website and newsletter platform with clean SEO defaults and a paid subscription layer. Right for: newsletter-first authors building a Substack alternative with a custom domain. Buy yourname.com regardless of platform – it is the one URL that is always yours to move.
Author website SEO does not require expert knowledge to implement at the basics level, and the basics deliver most of the value. Every page needs a unique title tag (under 60 characters) and meta description (under 160 characters) containing relevant keywords – your name, genre, book titles. Every image needs descriptive alt text. Your site must load in under three seconds on mobile – test this with Google PageSpeed Insights. Use HTTPS. Register your site in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools for indexing monitoring. For content SEO, a blog covering topics your genre readers search for (“best epic fantasy series 2025” or “how to write a cozy mystery”) builds long-term organic traffic. These are all DIYable in an afternoon.
Your website's primary job beyond presenting your books is converting visitors into email subscribers. The highest-converting placement for a signup form is a pop-up triggered after 30 seconds or 50% scroll depth, plus a static embedded form on the homepage above the fold and on the about page. The offer matters more than the form design: “Download a free short story set in the world of [Series Name]” outperforms a generic newsletter pitch by significant margins. Connect your form to Kit, Mailchimp, or MailerLite and configure your welcome sequence to fire immediately. Every page should have at least one signup opportunity – a sidebar widget, a footer form, or an inline CTA after your about copy – without overwhelming the visitor.
Podcast hosts, bloggers, and journalists do not have time to email you three times to get basic information. A press page eliminates that friction. Include: a downloadable high-resolution author headshot (300 DPI minimum), short and long bios in copy-paste-ready format, high-resolution cover images for each book with ISBNs and publisher information, a one-paragraph synopsis per title, three to five suggested interview topics, your booking contact email or form, and a list of previous media appearances once you have them. Publish this page at /press or /media and link it from your main navigation or footer. Update it within one week of every new release. A stale press page signals passivity; an updated one signals readiness.
Register yourname.com the day you decide to publish, even before your site is built. Namecheap and Google Domains offer clean, low-cost domain registration. If your name is taken, consider authorname.com or writeryourname.com. Never use a platform subdomain (yourname.wordpress.com or yourname.squarespace.com) as your permanent address – it signals a temporary setup and cannot be cleanly moved when you switch platforms. For hosting, Squarespace and Ghost handle everything internally. For WordPress, choose managed WordPress hosting (WP Engine, Kinsta, or SiteGround) rather than cheap shared hosting – the performance and security difference is significant and load speed directly affects both user experience and search rankings.
iWrity helps you write and finish your manuscript so your website has something worth sending visitors to.
Try iWrity FreeThe non-negotiable pages: a homepage that immediately communicates your genre and brand, a books page with buy links for every retailer, an about page with a professional author photo and bio in short (50 words) and long (300 words) formats, a contact or booking page for media inquiries, and an email signup page or embedded form with a clear reader magnet offer. Optional but valuable: a blog or newsletter archive, an events page if you speak or attend conventions, a media or press page for journalists and podcast hosts. Keep navigation to five items or fewer. If a visitor can't find your books within two clicks, the site needs restructuring.
WordPress offers maximum flexibility and SEO control but requires the most technical management. It's the right choice for authors who need complex functionality, already have technical comfort, or plan to invest in long-term content SEO. Squarespace is the best option for authors who want a beautiful, low-maintenance site without technical overhead – templates are polished and email integration is built in. Ghost is ideal for authors whose newsletter is central to their brand: it combines website and newsletter in one platform with excellent SEO defaults. For most debut and mid-career indie authors, Squarespace or Ghost gets a professional site live faster with less friction.
Connect your email platform (Kit, Mailchimp, or MailerLite) to a signup form on your site. The highest-converting placement: a pop-up that appears after 30 seconds or scroll depth of 50%, plus a static embedded form on your homepage above the fold and your about page. The form should offer a specific reader magnet – “Get a free short story set in the world of [Book Title]” outperforms generic “subscribe to my newsletter.” Test different magnet descriptions and button text (your platform's A/B testing feature is worth using). Every page of your site should have at least one email signup opportunity, without being intrusive.
Start with fundamentals: a unique, keyword-relevant title tag and meta description for every page, your author name as a primary keyword on the homepage, book titles and genre terms in your books page copy and metadata, and alt text on every image. Technically: ensure your site loads in under three seconds on mobile, uses HTTPS, and has no broken links. For content SEO, a blog covering topics your genre's readers search for (writing craft, research topics related to your books) can drive organic traffic over time. Register your site with Google Search Console to monitor indexing. These basics do not require an SEO specialist – they are DIYable in an afternoon.
Your press page exists to make journalists, bloggers, and podcast hosts' lives easy. Include: a downloadable high-resolution author headshot (300 DPI, PNG or JPEG), short and long author bios ready to copy-paste, high-resolution cover images for each book with ISBN and publication date, a one-paragraph book synopsis per title, three to five suggested interview topics or talking points, a list of previous media appearances (podcast interviews, articles, speaking engagements), and a direct booking email or contact form. Keep the page publicly accessible – do not hide it behind a password. Update it within a week of every new release. A neglected press page with outdated information signals to media that you're not actively seeking coverage.
Build your website, grow your list, and book your media – but start with a great manuscript. iWrity is where it begins.
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