The number one question asked when redesigning our website is who uses it and why do they come to your website? It’s the key to any website design.
For us, the answer to the question has always been easy. The top users of our website are authors looking for an agent. We also have years of analytics to back this up.
With that in mind, we designed our website accordingly. Of course, we have information on our clients and subsidiary rights and even a password-protected author portal. But our primary focus is to guide authors on how to submit.
Whether you are an author, a restauranteur or a makeup artist the first question you need to ask is who is your target audience and why are they coming to your website. And then give them what they want.
An Author’s Website
For authors, I would guess, the primary visitors to your site are readers. Knowing what they’re looking for is key to knowing what to highlight.
They probably want to know when they can both pre-order your next book, and when it’s available.
If you write a series expect they’ll want a series list. In other words, in what order should they read the books.
They’ll want to know more about you, beyond the bio on your book. Give them something interesting.
This isn’t all-encompassing for a website, but it’s a start. It also doesn’t mean you shouldn’t appeal to others. Yes, at BookEnds authors are our primary audience, but so are art directors looking for illustrators and overseas agents and publishers looking to see who has rights to a book. We have that information too.
When designing a website, thinking about your audience is the first step to creating something that will appeal to the right people.
The number one question asked when redesigning our website is who uses it and why do they come to your website? It’s the key to any website design.
For us, the answer to the question has always been easy. The top users of our website are authors looking for an agent. We also have years of analytics to back this up.
With that in mind, we designed our website accordingly. Of course, we have information on our clients and subsidiary rights and even a password-protected author portal. But our primary focus is to guide authors on how to submit.
Whether you are an author, a restauranteur or a makeup artist the first question you need to ask is who is your target audience and why are they coming to your website. And then give them what they want.
An Author’s Website
For authors, I would guess, the primary visitors to your site are readers. Knowing what they’re looking for is key to knowing what to highlight.
This isn’t all-encompassing for a website, but it’s a start. It also doesn’t mean you shouldn’t appeal to others. Yes, at BookEnds authors are our primary audience, but so are art directors looking for illustrators and overseas agents and publishers looking to see who has rights to a book. We have that information too.
When designing a website, thinking about your audience is the first step to creating something that will appeal to the right people.
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