Happy Thursday, Writer’s! The weekend is almost here! I hope you were able to get a lot of writing (or editing or publishing) done this week. Today we are switching things up a bit and talking about the business side of being a writer instead of just the writing aspects. We’re talking websites.

If you are a writer, you definitely need a website or blog. There are three main reasons for this:

You Can Showcase Your Writing

Having your own website is like a shop window online where people can read your writing and follow you as a fan. A lot of writers have turned to social media for writing and marketing, but the truth is that social media is here today and gone tomorrow.

In addition, the social media sites set the rules, not you. Even if you have 5,000 fans on your Facebook page, for example, you might notice that you only get a tiny fraction of views. This is because Facebook rewards pages that have a lot of likes, shares and comments, and shows their content to more people. If your fans are not showing these “social signals”, your great content might not get seen by anyone at all.

With a site or blog, on the other hand, you can publish regularly and then let your follower know what’s new.

In addition, you can sell directly from your own site, cutting out all of the publishing middlemen. All you need is:

A PDF file of your content, such as a short story or novel
A PayPal account
A Buy Now button you will create in your PayPal account
A download page for customers to get their purchase

You can also link to content you are selling on Amazon. Amazon will take a percentage, but they are:

The largest bookstore in the world
A search engine for shoppers
A safe and secure digital marketplace where you will get paid for your work every month
A place where you can appear side by side with top authors in your genre, such as romance, mystery or horror

Use your site or blog as the hub of all your activities.

Fans and Publishing Professional Can Learn More about You

As you build your reputation as a writer, more and more people will want to know who you are, including:

Fans
Literary agents
Editors at publishing houses
Writing contest judges
…and more.

Make it easy for people to find you, get your biography, and see your full list of works.

It Can Be a Writing and Resource Tool for Yourself and Others

If you start a WordPress blog (like mine), you can showcase your work to the public if you wish. You can show off your creative writing, blog about topics important to you, share writing industry news, and more.

WordPress also allows you to password protect content or make it completely private. If you’re like most writers, you probably have a lot of favorite sites, works in progress and more. If you participate in a lot of contests, put your work on your blog with the name of the contest, deadline date and so on to keep track of your success and publish it once the winners have been announced.

Store links, writing tips, your resume and more. Update your writer’s portfolio and biography any time you wish.

There are plenty of other website hosting companies that you can use, but I am a huge fan of WordPress because it is so user friendly, especially for people who are completely HMTL illiterate like I am. Use whatever works best for you, your goals, and your talents.

I put off creating my own websites and blogs for a long time because I didn’t know how to create one, what to write about, and I didn’t want to take the time away from writing my books.

But finally my writing friends had hounded me hard enough and for long enough that I finally gave in. It took me a little while to get the hang of it and to find my groove, but now I love blogging. I love creating websites, sharing my work, sharing my thoughts, and helping others. In fact, I have 8 websites and four blogs on various topics! ( You do not have to be as extreme as me, don’t worry.) Just one website about you, your writing, and the books.

Use your blog as the hub of all your writing and promotional activities and watch your career grow.

Set up your very own website here!

That’s all my advice for you today, writers! Come back tomorrow and learn about some time management tips.

Write on, Writers!

PS: Stay on the lookout for updates to the website. We will be adding a section of programs, e-course, e-books, webinars, resources on where to find cover designs, editors, and beta readers; printables, and so much more!