UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion
Agony Aunt
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Website advice
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I think there's different tiers of what you can pay for when it comes to upgrading your free Wordpress site.The pro of upgrading essentially means you get more freedom to do what you want in terms of customisation, layout, content, etc.
The flipside of this is that more freedom means more complications.
Having two different website means twice as much work, so you'd be better off just having one. Wordpress is actually quite powerful so you may as well stick with it.
Remember that you can still have one website if you segregate it. Do you really need to have two sites with two totally different styles?That's a genuine question. As I'm not in your head, I don't really know what you intend to do!
Personally I use Tumblr, and I try to keep everything under one site (book landing pages, blog for articles biography page) just because it's easier to maintain.
If you use WordPress, you can have static pages as opposed to blog posts, all part of the same website.You don't use HTML because WP is based on template files which are packaged as "themes". The actual content is held in a database, with the theme determining how it is displayed.
I did my site as a paid WP hosted one, though I used a free theme, and it was quite a steep learning curve, so I would recommend one of the WordPress for Dummies books. I learned a lot from the copy I finally borrowed from the library, but had also had to find out a lot the hard way and would definitely have benefited from the book sooner.
Thanks Pam for explaining better than I did :)But yes, both a blog and static pages are possible. I do this via Tumblr and it works fine.
It also helps ensure everything has a consistent branding.
Consistent branding is the key, isn't it? I actually use Weebly for my websites, and find the 'drag and drop' formatting quite manageable as i truly do not have a clue about HTML or whatever it is.
Thanks folks. I may get hold of one of the books. I'll have a play about with some of the options. I'm going to have to structure my time more effectively, I don't get a great deal of time to do a consistent and regular social media package or write much content.
Welcome to the world of writing, AL. There's never enough time to do anything, unless you do not need to work for a living
Sadly I do. Mortgages don't pay themselves:(I'm also not very disciplined.
GL, discipline required in here!Mwah ha ha.
Ha ha
Ha
I'll open up the dungeon straight away...
After I typed that I realised I'd probably regret it with you lot. Or possibly not :)Happy new year everyone.
You'll be fine AL.I'll just go dampen a flannel for you.
I've bought a website help book. I may just get the domain for now. Not very well so tinkering on it is going to have to wait.
I've got a 'managed wordpress' website through GoDaddy, having started off with their basic website builder (which is really limiting after a while). There's some negative comments about their services, but I've been really happy so far with them (and they're quite cheap as well).Hope this helps (and hope you feel better soon!)
I use static pages on my various worpress blogs, and it looks and feels like a proper website (as opposed to "just" a blog).My average website has between 4 and 7 pages, plus one blog "page". One is a Wordpress.org installation on a server, the others are all made with the free templates at wordpress.com. For some I have purchased a domain name via Wordpress.com's paid options, for others I have made a simple re-direct from a domain I previously owned.
All of them feel like the real deal. Static pages are the bee's knees!
Thanks, I'll have a play about when I have more time and energy.Useful to know people's experiences.
A.L. wrote: "Thanks, I'll have a play about when I have more time and energy.Useful to know people's experiences."
Just in case it's useful, I use Tumblr, with a self-modified version of its Effector theme (to have some elements of Wordpress, such as custom social plugins). This is the result I get:
http://by-ethan-fox.com/
Others may look fancier, but I find this is really clean and very convenient. I've even been able to adapt it to book landing pages too:
http://by-ethan-fox.com/TheScissorsAn...
If you're not much of a web designer, it might be something worth considering. You also have the advantage of Tumblr being a creative social network behind-the-scenes; as long as you don't get carried away with it (and forget you're a writer!!) then it can be very handy.
Plus, it integrates well with Twitter and my author Facebook page, as well as providing RSS that can be fed to my Amazon Author Page and my GoodReads author page.
Ethan, your website looks great. Simple to navigate.I've gone the static website route as I did an XHTML course, just for info on the books and crafts (Beanpole Books), plus another one which is meant to be a blog but the months keep slipping by and I desperately need to update it. If I were starting again now, I think something like Wordpress or the Tumblr Ethan uses would be ideal.
TBH it doesn't take that long to update and upload new stuff, it's just getting round to doing it that's the problem.
Yes I have that problem with my blog.My partner is learning web design so I'm letting him have a play with it.
Currently I have a blog - mostly featuring interviews, guest posts and reviews. My books are mentioned but it's more a sideline. Currently I use the free Wordpress service but I'm thinking of upgrading to the paid-for one for the extra features.
I have a few questions:
What are the pros and cons of the paid for Wordpress over the free? I know there's a wide range of styles but what else do you get for your money?
Also I'd like a website - sort of a companion website which is more about the books and authory things than the blog - is there any way I can link the two and can anyone recommend an easy website provider to use? It's been years since I've done any HTML and so has to be user friendly.
What have other people got on their websites?