Build Your Own Author Website – Step 3: Domain Name

17 Comments

1. I’m loving this practical series. It helps my not so techno-savvy mindset to have it broken down in simple steps. Thank you yet again, Margaret.

   1. You’re welcome, Jodine. I try to keep the instructions simple, because, from my experience, building one’s own website is much easier if one approaches it in small increments. We need time to absorb and understand each lesson before moving on to the next or the project seems more overwhelming then it actually is. Plus, taking it slow prevents us from making mistakes, which are not only frustrating, but time-consuming to fix. Building my own website scared me almost to the point of paralysis. But, in time, taking it step-by-step, one short session at a time, I grew more confident and learned things I thought were beyond my capability. Knowledge builds on knowledge, which I’ve since been able to apply to other computer issues. And anyone who owns a computer knows that new issues pop up all the time.

2. Margaret––thank you so much for writing this series, which proves that a normal human being can create his/her own website. (And yours is really good looking, too!) Our family’s first website was for our horse ranch. It was created back in the ’90s, when a surprising number of sites existed. You had to write them in html or something. We hired a very nice young man, probably a genius, to do the site, http://ranchovilasa-spurs.com. Now there’s a snappy URL! He used http://dreamhost.com to host it and we bought the URL, from somewhere, now lost in memory, except for when they charge me for a renewal.

   Well, the nice young man moved, I think to Oregon. I have no idea how to contact him and can barely open my account with dreamhost.com, which was originally set up for web developers. I find it utterly confounding, though the company does EVERYTHING you can do with a website. For maybe a year, I knew how to put up pages on ranch website, but my old computer crashed. I think I’ve got all the files on my new computer (and I’m 2 down the line now), but I don’t know where they’re stored. The ranch site is cast in pixels now. You see the problems you can run into.

   There’s also the multiplying URL problem. When your learn how to buy a URL, you can think of many interesting options beside your name. (Buy the URL with your name, you don’t want someone else hosting a site with your name. Actually, buy all variations of your name, and redirect them to it.) Here’s mine: http://sandynathan.com. Don’t actually populate the variations, like this http://sandynathan.net Don’t do this, even if you get a good deal on a cool template. I have been told by marketing experts that this is marketing suicide and confusing to your public.

   In addition to that gaffe, I have purchased about 52 URLs for all sorts of things, like tapelladogs.com That’s for my son and the hunting dog accessory business he may start. Some day. Also my grandchildren’s names, in case… I’ve also started blogs on some of those URLs; WordPress themes are free, many of them. You can have blog for each of your books! And I do! Who has time to write on them? Redirect those to your main blog, too.

   Having made almost all the marketing mistakes indie authors can and been to all sorts of seminars, I can quote a lot of people that I consulted with. Like John Kremer, who’s a big marketing name and wrote multiple editions of 1001 WAYS TO MARKET YOUR BOOK. http://www.amazon.com/1001-Ways-Market-Your-Books/dp/091241149X In some on-line seminar of his, John said something like, “Why do you guys use your names for your URL?” Because someone else told me to, John. He uses bookmarket.com for his main site, but has special purpose URLS: askjohnkremer.com

   This is so confusing. Do what you want. If you’ve got one URL, I’d use your name and hope that people remember it.

   Then someone invented SEO. That’s what drives website popularity now. You’re supposed to load up your site text with words, keywords, long-tail keywords and other things that search engines like. (How can a search engine like anything?) But its supposed to sound and look natural. Not like, “Welcome to my SEO optimized website! I’m Sandy Nathan and I write paranormal science fiction and fantasy which is visionary and also mystical and spiritual and is about good and evil and devils and demons and witches and other things. Billionaires and Native Americans figure large in some of my stories and…” Those are all pretty good SEO terms, I think.

   It’s a mystery to me, all of it. On the advice of some author/marketing guru, I had another brilliant young man redo my site to entice people to join my email list, which is apparently the new, new source of marketing power. I also switched from one mailing service to another, which resulted in me losing about 20 people. I’ve gained one with the new site. 😉

   You have to take all this in the spirit of, well, the Spirit, however defined. You’ll have wonderful stories to tell. But I think you should do what Margaret says, because her site looks lovely and she lived to tell the tale!

   Thanks again, Margaret!

   1. Wow, Sandy, what a wealth of information you shared in your comment. 52 URL’s! How do you keep track of them all? Your expertise always amazes me. Thanks so very much for sharing what you know.

      1. OK. A new level of learning. I’m responding to your using my new Dragon Dictate program and my microphone to dictate this. After Joanna Penn wrote in her blog that she’d just finished her first BOOK, totally dictated, I figured I could step up to the plate. I’m feeling more like a beginner than ever. In my initial usage of Dragon Dictate I learned that you have to really proofread or you might end up saying something… embarrassing?

         So we’ll see what happens. What I didn’t say in my earlier post, Margaret, is that I purchased from dreamhost.com a special offer they ran years ago. It was called CodeMonster and it allowed purchasers, for a paltry $14 a month, to host an INFINITE number of URLs––domains. This posed a real problem for bargain shopper. So, I got it, of course.

         And that’s how I got the 52 URLs, because they’re really not very expensive actually. So there is the true story of my URL empire. Which still costs a mere $14 per month to host.

         Dreamhost is kind enough to keep track of them for me on a particular page of my account, which I sometimes can’t find, but sometimes can. That’s why I’m wedded at the hip with my “web guy”. He can always find that page.

         Whew. Now to go back over this and take out anything strange that might’ve been put in by Dragon Dictate. Or me, mumbling. It writes exactly what it hears you say.

         So, here we go marching ever forward, independent authors and presses. Learning new skills that we wish we didn’t have to, but do. Hugs to everybody. Now to proofread.

         1. Dragon Dictate! Scares the heck out of me. Wow and double wow, Sandy. Maybe someday you can write a post for the VFA about “The Way of the Dragon” or “How I Slayed the Dragon.” And I’m glad you cleared up the part about the 52 URLs. I thought maybe you were a closet billionaire and just wrote in your spare time when not living the life of luxury.

            1. Sorry, no closet billionaires here. That Code Monster sale allowed me to become an internet impresario, and URLs used to be really cheap. A couple of dollars maybe. Just like ISBN’s used to be free. If you’re old enough you can remember those days, although I never did get free ISBN’s.

               Haven’t exactly slain the Dragon yet. I’m I’m more like standing in the door to its cave yelling, “You who…I’m here. Would you like to play?”

               I didn’t think about voice-recognition software until my hands started hurting so much that I could hardly type. I’m easing my way into the process. Also had some help from a young family friend, one of those guys born knowing how to do all this stuff.

               That article by Joanna Penn about how she dictated her latest book was really helpful and inspiring. Anyone who’s interested in voice dictation should go to her blog, which is The Creative Penn, and find the article. The young man that I noted above helped me get set up with the Dragon. He read her article and found even a better, cheaper microphone than the one Joanna uses for me.

               Using voice recognition software is really cool. You just talk and it writes, quite accurately. Write on anything; you can write emails, you can write on Microsoft Word, you can write on blogs, and when you’re finished, you command:

               “Go to sleep!” And the Dragon goes to sleep! I love the sense of power.

               I will write something for the gang when I when I have a sense of mastery. Which I hopefully will attain.

               Even if all you can do is speak your emails, it really helps the old hands.

   2. Cracked me up, Sandy. You put it in the vernacular!

      1. Glad to be entertaining, Vic. It’s much more entertaining on this end, dictating away. Eventually, we’ll all help each other to new and higher level of consciousness, and computer skills. Ciao!

3. Hi, on the strength of this article I did sign up for Bluehost. Two things to be aware of dear readers: you absolutely need to add the $11.00 charge for privacy or as soon as you subscribe you’ll get spammers in your inbox trying to sell you a website–very smarmy, phishing people. Second, Bluehost takes the full amount for the three years, not the $3.49 per month (unlike GoDaddy). So, I’m a little dismayed, but I’ve talked directly to Bluehost and they seem to be quite knowledgeable and pleasant, so I’ll stick with them. Sorry to be a Debby Downer on this, but I think it’s important to know these two things.

   1. Thanks, Katherine. I, and I’m sure all the visitors to the VFA, appreciate any piece of additional information that readers of our posts are generous enough to share. I learn as I go and share what I know, but there’s always more to any subject than I am aware of, especially on the subject of building one’s own website. No sooner do I write a post with how-to instructions, and the rules change. Yes, Bluehost takes the full amount for the three years, which is good and bad. One gets a discount this way and doesn’t have to worry about forgetting to renew. The bad, it costs money. I can’t figure out why we have to pay extra for privacy. It’ like being asked to buy a warranty on a product. If the product is good, why do we have to pay extra to protect it? But, here our hands are tied. Having your very own self-hosted website costs money, but, in the long run, being in charge and knowing the ins and outs of your website (see Sandy’s comment above) are well worth it. Also, as you learned, the people at Bluehost are knowledgeable and pleasant. Plus they don’t charge for their expertise. Which counts for something.

      1. Also, if the folks from Bluehost talk to you and you can understand what they say, that’s a great plus. Half the time, I can’t get into my dream host account. Sigh.

         1. You bet, Sandy!

4. Thanks, Margaret. We all love inhabiting the zone where we write our VF. Doing promotion, not so much. Having simple instructions for computer challenges encountered facing the necessity to promote effectively in today’s market is priceless.

   1. I agree, Vic, I’m hoping to reach the point at the VFA where we receive input from our members on the subjects they would like us to cover–and find guest bloggers to cover–in our posts in order to make promotion more understandable and easier to implement.

5. Thanks for this post. I wish I knew about Bluehost. I use FatCow, and I’ve had a major issue with them. My sight got hacked, so it is also important to deal with the privacy issue that Katherine mentioned in a previous comment.

   Regarding Dragon Dictate, my boss uses it all the time. It’s great software. I fear forgetting how to type if I use it! However, I think software such as this will soon outdate the almighty keyboard!

   1. Hi Eleni. At least visitors reading these comments will be forewarned about FatCow. Bluehost, though not perfect, is one of the most recommended web-hosting services I’ve come across. Dragon Dictate scares me, but so did the microwave and computers when they first came out. Change is scary, but I’m usually rewarded when I venture into the unknown. As when I started writing visionary fiction!

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