4 Tips for Website Visual Appeal & Finding Your Author Brand

If you read my last blog post about the essentials of what your author website needs to have, you've got your website's building blocks ready to go. But anyone who'e looked at a website knows that the design has as much to do with a website's success as the content.

Brainstorm Ideas

Just like when writing your book, try brainstorming ideas. Look at other author websites in your genre. What do you like about them?

• For exmple, check out romance author Carly Phillips' website. The colors are bright and friendly, her fonts are easy to read, there's a great mix of images and blank spaces, lots of pictures of her books, and a menu where you can find out about her, shop for her books, follow her on the social media platform of your choice, etc. You've got no question of her genre, nothing is crowded, when text and images move they aren't going too fast.

• David Baldacci's website balances images and blank spaces well and keeps things simple in terms of the menu. Right at the top he highlights his newest book, since that's what any reader going to the sight is probably wondering about first. Notice he also uses book trailers to entice readers. You don't need to have a big budget to do those- a little practice and Canva can help you create something.

Color

There's a lot more to choosing the colors for your website than just picking your favorites! How do those colors look in contrast to each other? Do the colors means something in your culture? Does that matter? Can people read text well against them? If you do a search for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) you'll find multiple sites to choose from that will help you identify colors that will work best together for people with different visual impairments.

Font

The readability of your fonts is going to be essential. What's the point in agonizing over what you write if people can't read it? Try the same text with different fonts and see what reads well, what looks good. Then stick with that font for everything.

Spacing

Space isn't something we think about consciously, but it plays a definite part in the optimal web design. Text block, images, and blank spaces will all play a carefully balanced role in what you do. When my website was being redesigned, the amount of text I had was cut– a lot. My designer would make it "easy" on me: she'd give me my original text and tell me I had to cut it down to 40 words. That was what would fit in the text box for the design. Then there'd be another version of that for each text block– and I was lucky if I had 40 words! Because I'm wordy and wander and that doesn't work on good website. Which was another good reason I put someone else in charge of the project!

What's Your Author Brand?

When I started working with Regine Tiu to redesign my website, she didn't start with colors and fonts. She started by asking me about my values: what did my company focus on, how did I want my clients to think about me and remember me? If they described me in one or two words, what did I want those words to be? How did I describe myself in one or two words? What vibe did I want people to associate with me? Because all of those things can be expressed visually. We all react to things in certain ways, whether it's a room's decor or a website design, it has a "feel" to us. Professional designers are the ones that can put into words what they're going for with that feel. Regine would show me the same word in different fonts and ask me what I liked better and she'd have words that associated with the different fonts. When I thought about it, I usually agreed with those words but if you just asked me randomly I couldn't have said one felt more "friendly casual" or "open" than another. I just liked it better. It "felt" better.

Do you need a professional designer to build your author website? No. But I definitely recommend thinking about what vibes you want your site to have for your viewer, even before you get started. Play around with what combinations give you that feel. Maybe ask friends and family for their opinions. Create some mood boards with different combinations to show them. How do these ideas and vibes connect to you as a writer and the books you want people to enjoy? This goes a long way to creating the "author brand" everyone tells you that you need to find and market!

Are you looking for a writing, marketing coach or a developmental editor? Contact me and let’s talk about your project!