I have a wee little confession to make. I’m a bit of a geek. As in the old-fashioned Internet coding geek. So, setting up an author website was – get this – FUN. Yes, I loved playing around with the HTML, making my header above look just right, choosing my WordPress theme … it was all so magical …
Uh, I realize I’m a rare bird in this and that many authors are creative folks who can dream up entire worlds and thousands of pages of work, but go a weird shade of green when it comes to creating a great website to showcase their work. That’s okay.
The easiest – and I do mean the easiest – way to set up an author website is to use a WordPress blog as your site. WordPress has a great format, thousands of free themes and more tech goodies than you’ll ever need. So, here is how to set up an author website:
1. Install WordPress
Install WordPress through your web hosting. If you don’t know how, contact your web hosting company and ask them how, or Google instructions here online. Many web hosting companies, like mine which is Bluehost, have WordPress already to be installed. So, log in to your web host cPanel, go to the large “W” WordPress icon and click on it to install it on your host. Once it’s installed, you’ll receive your admin username and password.
Open a new browser window, go to http://www.yoursite.com/wp-admin, and type in the username and password. You’ll be logged in to your WordPress Dashboard and ready to roll.
2. Select a Theme
This is the fun part! From the WordPress Dashboard, click “Appearance” and click “Themes.” Click the “Install Themes” tab to find themes. There are thousands, so you can browse to your heart’s content. My original theme before I upgraded was “Miscellany.” You can pick any theme you want, obviously, but you want it to reflect the genre you write. Historical fiction looks pretty with an old-fashioned look of stately typography. Romance is best with light pink and purple, vampire novels are dark with red accents.
Once you’ve selected your dream theme, click “Install.” A little pop-up window appears asking if you’d like to install now. Click the blue “Install Now” button. Then a confirmation window appears letting you know the theme has been installed. Click “Activate” to activate the theme, and click on your website name to preview it.
3. Set up Pages
Pages are static pages that are different from posts, but quite necessary for author websites to give information. The first necessary page you should have is an “About” page. Chat about yourself in a friendly and relaxed style. You should also have a “Books” or “My Books” page where readers can see what you’re writing. A “Reviews” page is helpful to give reader testimonials. Other pages include “Events,” “Services,” if any, and “Free Excerpts.” Everyone loves free stuff!
To set up pages, click “Pages” on the Dashboard menu and click “Add New.”
4. Customize Widgets
Widgets are those little thingies that appear in the sidebars of a WordPress website. My widgets include a picture of myself, my Twitter updates, a link to my Facebook author page, pictures of my book covers, and an archives list. The top widget should be a photo of you! You can play around with widgets and see which ones you like or want to use. To add widgets, click “Appearance” on the Dashboard menu and click “Widgets.”
5. Add Content
This is not really a step 5, but an ongoing process. Now that the basics of your author website is set up, you can add posts, customize the header, upload images, provide links, and even monetize your website with Google Adsense or advertising.
Hope you had fun setting up your website! Oh, and if you wanted to know what theme I’m currently using, it’s Thesis – found at http://diythemes.com. I customized it with my own special blend of fairy dust. I am a storyteller, after all. 
