Our services

Experienced, fast, affordable

We’ve designed and built over 40 websites for published authors, which means you’ll benefit from all the knowledge and experience we’ve gained along the way. And, we’re as passionate as you are about keeping within your budget and timeframe.

A website that’s created just for you

Unlike some web designers, we won’t just present you with a template design that’s the same as everyone elses. The website we create for you will be as unique as you are; it will be designed specifically to meet your individual wants and needs.

Friendly support and advice from start to finish

We’re happy to give you as much or as little help as you need. If it puts your mind at ease, we’ll guide you through the whole process, from initial design to your site going live. This includes everything from domain name registration and advising on layout and content to making sure your website can be found by the major search engines. And we promise to explain everything in plain English!

And we won’t leave you in the lurch afterwards, either...

We’ll be on hand to look after your site for its entire lifespan. If you need to update or tweak anything, simply get in touch. We’ll be happy to help.

Call us now on 020 8749 9229 to chat about your website plans or to get a FREE, no-obligation quote. If we’re out of the office talking to clients, you can also try us on 07921 142084.

Optional extras – choose from as many of the following as you need:

Domain name registration and hosting

Does the thought of working out how to register a domain name and arrange hosting leave you confused and frustrated? That’s fine! We’re more than happy to organise those things for you.

Once you’ve decided on a domain name (something that includes your name is probably best), we can check whether that domain name is available. Your choice of domain name can also make a difference to where you appear on the search engine results pages so pick something that includes the keywords your readers might use when they look for you online. The best domain names are usually ones that are easy to remember and easy to type.

Blogging functionality

Need to be able to blog? We’ll create you a Wordpress-based site with flexible, user-friendly blogging functionality. Or, if it suits you better, you can have Google Blogger. We’ll make sure you have all the information you need to make the right decision.

Having a built-in blog is great for keeping your site fresh and up to date, which will encourage your readers to keep visiting (it can also help with your SEO).

It’s also a great way to keep your fans informed of your future releases, interviews, book signings and events. You could even consider creating blog posts that mimic the bonus features on a DVD: deleted chapters, extracts from other books, character analysis and alternate endings will all keep your readers coming back for more.

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

Having a beautiful website that can’t be found by any of the search engines (like Google and Yahoo) is a bit like buying a Picasso painting and putting it in a dark room. You simply won’t get the full benefit! At websites4authors, we know that SEO can help drive more visitors to your site so all our sites come with basic SEO built in.

If you’d like a more customised service or a complete search engine marketing strategy, we’ll put you in touch with one of our trusted and reliable expert partners.

Content management system (CMS)

From time to time you may want to make changes to your website - add a new book cover, amend some text or rewrite a page heading. If this is the case, we can set you up with a CMS. This will allow you to make these changes yourself, whenever you feel like it.

If you think updating your own website sounds too complicated or time consuming, why not let us do it for you? Updates are charged on an ad hoc basis of £45 an hour.

The option that’s right for you really depends on how often you plan to update your site and how comfortable you are with using computers. We’ll talk you through all the options and offer advice on what best suits your needs.

Social media strategies

One of the most profitable ways to publicise your work and raise your profile is to use social media sites (like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Google+). It can also be a great way to help drive traffic back to your website.

If you don’t know your tweets from your +1s and think Digg is something you do in the garden, we can help get you started. Through our partner company, we can set up as many social media profiles as you need and offer as much help and advice as you like on how to use them to your advantage.

On-going costs – website renewal fees

All our websites include a domain name, hosting and support for one year. From year two onwards, if you wish to keep your site live, you will need to renew. Renewal charges start at £60 per year (domain name, hosting and support) for a basic website.

On-going costs – editing fees (for sites with no content editor) If your site is attached to a content editor, you can update the site yourself. If your site does not have a content editor we can do this for you and advise on the estimated cost. We also offer yearly maintenance contracts if you require regular updates (for example if dates and events need updating regularly).

Requests that can affect the final cost of your website;

  • I want to be able to edit the words and pictures on my website myself;
  • I have written a large number of books and want to show the cover of each one on my site;
  • I want to have an image photo gallery on my site;
  • I want a to be able to blog from my site;
  • I want to have a twitter feed and links to my twitter and facebook pages on my site;
  • I want to add a proper online shop to my site;
  • Can you to write all the content for my site?
  • Can you to source all the graphics and images for my site?
  • Can you add a newsletter sign up form to my site?
  • Can you put You Tube videos on my website?
  • Please register some extra domain names for me.