Making Your Own Website

I made my own website today. I gotta say it’s amazing I lived through it. However, I have a website complete with photos and even a video, actually two videos both trailers for books on the site. JPostauthorsimple.site.com.

I decided I needed a new website. The old one is in one of my pen names and I’ve decided to lose the pen name and roll with my real name. Also, the old site was made on a template. I couldn’t download my book trailers or add new pages and it was making me insane trying to do it. I kept hitting the add video button and nothing happened. Not enough alcohol to get through it. So, I contacted a web designer. Talk about sticker shock. He told me his hourly rate was Only $170, and he figured a minimum of ten hours. I listened politely and said I’d get back to him. Like never. I’m completely ignorant and both websites I made took about two hours. What in the hell are they doing for ten hours?

The website designer guy gave me some great pointers which cost me nothing. He told me to use Word Press and that they were the best on the internet with do-it-yourself web designs. He was right. With Word Press I was able to create an acceptable website in two hours and it cost me almost nothing. I downloaded my videos without a hitch. I only needed a modest amount of medication to recover and I didn’t kill anyone.

As an author it’s very important to have web presence. I know this and usually avoid all forms of self promotion until forced by necessity or my publisher. I’m a writer and it takes a lot of my computer time. Sitting at my desk all day is not fun. So, I’m all about designing ways to get the promotion thing done without spending a lot of time doing it. Anyone out there got some ideas, please send them to me.

If you’re planning to build your own site make sure you have book blurbs ready, cover photos ready, bio ready, in other words be prepared because searching through your computer for a blurb you wrote five years ago is not fun, and will add to the amount of medication needed to recover. It also helps to know your way around software, especially PhotoShop-type software. If you’re completely ignorant, don’t try it yourself. Bite the bullet and hire someone.

Author: Janet Post

I’m the daughter of a Marine Corps colonel. I lived the military life until I got out of high school. At that point I was a wild child. I got married and moved to Canada where I lived up the Sechelt Inlet, the scene for Spellcast Waters. I lived in a log cabin, with wood heat and a wood cook stove fifteen miles by boat from the nearest town. I’ve moved a lot. Between the military upbringing and just rambling around the country, I’ve moved 40 times. I lived in Hawaii and worked as a polo groom for fifteen years, then I moved to Florida where I became a reporter. For ten years I covered kids in high school and middle school. Kids as athletes, kids doing amazing things no matter how hard their circumstances. It impressed me, and it awed me. How wonderful teens are. They have spirit and courage in the face of the roughest time of their lives. High school is a war zone. Between dodging bullies, school work and after school activities, teens now days have a lot on their plate. I wrote stories about them and I photographed them. My goal was to see every kid in their local newspaper before they graduated. I love kids, horses and I paint, and I write. Now I live in the swampland of Florida with too many dogs and my fifteen-year old granddaughter. Life is beautiful. Live in the moment. View all posts by Janet Post