WordPress Basics for Authors & Writers

Clean out your author website and apply a method I’ve used for years. Research your ideal reader and genre, ensure your site fits the publishing industry, and map essential pages.

Plan your dream website before WordPress by aligning your goals with your ideal reader. Map their journey, define pages and calls to action, and gather ideas from other author websites.

Conduct market research by studying 3–5 author websites in your genre to identify common components like a prominent name, hero image, buy buttons, about, books, events, testimonials, and design aesthetics.

Explore author website best practices by reviewing essential pages to include, with real examples from my site to attract your ideal reader and boost book sales over time.

Design an author home page with a clear logo, simple navigation, and a concise header that explains who you are, plus a bold call to action for books and newsletters.

Explore how to design and update your books page on an author website, including mock-up covers, a compelling pitch, publication timeline, and signup forms to grow readers.

Craft an engaging about page that blends personal details with a professional bio, including fun facts like dogs and board games to help readers relate. Link to your books, invite readers to connect on Instagram, and note you will update the page over time.

Purchase your domain with your hosting provider to simplify setup. Explore GoDaddy, Blue House, and Dream Host, prioritizing 24/7 support for WordPress needs.

Choose a hosting company, secure a domain, and install WordPress to launch your site. Compare affordable options with free migrations, one-click WordPress installs, SSL, and reliable support.

Learn how to install WordPress on your hosting, choose a domain, run the installer, set site title and credentials, and access the WordPress dashboard for theme setup.

Install the SeedProd coming soon page and maintenance mode plugin, customize the headline and logo, and activate coming soon to keep visitors off your site while you work.

Explore building your WordPress website with bite-sized videos you can follow step by step or jump to the part you need, with updates as WordPress changes.

Clean up a fresh WordPress install by removing sample pages, posts, and unused plugins, set permalinks to post name, and update site title, tagline, and admin username for security.

Add new WordPress users and assign roles like subscriber, contributor, author, editor, and administrator, ensuring secure usernames, emails, and passwords, with notifications when new accounts are created.

Discover WordPress theme recommendations, from pre-templated options to Genesis framework with a parent and child theme. Learn steps to install, upload, and activate Anji Makes and coday creative themes.

Use appearance and the customize option to reflect branding by adjusting the site title, colors, and header image, then save and publish.

Learn to add a new page in WordPress, set a title and permalink, avoid changing permalinks after publishing, and manage drafts, visibility, landing page templates, and plugins.

Create and customize a WordPress menu by adding pages, dragging to reorder, and creating submenus, linking to posts or custom links with options to open in a new tab.

Learn to design WordPress pages by applying left alignment, headers for visual hierarchy, bulleted and numbered lists, and horizontal rules, while managing fonts and colors with easy google fonts plugin.

Add photos and videos to WordPress pages by uploading to media library, setting titles, captions, and alt text, and embedding YouTube or Vimeo videos for optimized SEO and user experience.

Reduce image file sizes to speed up posts, using tools like Photoshop or tinyPNG; replace in the post, copy alt text to the images, and verify improvements in Google Analytics.

Explore how to add internal and external links in WordPress pages and posts for search engine optimization, including opening in tabs and handling PDFs via media library or Dropbox.

Host audio off your site and embed or link it with services like SoundCloud for WordPress. Add the embed code, test playback, and control whether files are downloadable.

Explore essential WordPress plugins for authors, including Beaver Builder, Yoast SEO, Google Analytics, Antispam B, SeedProd, and UpdraftPlus for backups.

Learn to evaluate WordPress plugins by checking updates, ratings, and reviews to avoid conflicts, and update one plugin at a time. Monthly checks ensure compatibility and security.

Create a Google Analytics account and install the Monster Insights plugin on your WordPress site to track visitors, pages viewed, and session duration to improve content.

Install and activate the free version of Beaver Builder and explore its basic modules on pages. Learn how to access settings, upgrade options, and launch the builder from page previews.

Explore how Beever Builder in WordPress uses modules and rows, adds text, photos, videos, or HTML modules, builds two-column layouts, and saves, drafts, or publishes changes in the free version.

Learn to add and style a Beaver Builder button, set text and link targets (same or new window), adjust colors and hover effects, and save and reuse button styles non-globally.

Add headers in WordPress with Beaver Builder by dragging the heading module, entering text, centering as H2, tweaking margins, color, and font size, then saving and publishing.

Add a section separator with the Beaver Builder separator module to divide site sections, then customize color, opacity, height, width, alignment, and style such as solid, dashed, dotted, or double.

Set up social links in Beaver Builder by adding an icon group, selecting font awesome icons (facebook, instagram, pinterest), customizing colors and hover, duplicating icons, and adding real links.

Learn how to add a recent posts featured section on homepage using Beaver Builder's posts module, choosing layout options like masonry, gallery, or list, and customizing query, categories, and pagination.

Set up your blog on your WordPress site for writers and authors to engage your audience and attract new visitors.

Learn the first steps to setting up a WordPress blog for authors, including permalinks, creating a blog page, a static home page, and the blog post page.

Organize WordPress posts by five to six categories (up to ten) with parent and child subcategories and lowercase slugs; plan before posting and use tags to aid search.

Discover essential WordPress plugins for authors, including Beaver theme customization, Comment Love for community, and anti-spam and sharing tools. Learn to evaluate plugins by updates, ratings, compatibility, and installation.

Prefer a full-width post to keep readers focused on the content and avoid sidebar distractions, with an about me and recent posts at the bottom.

Learn to customize the WordPress sidebar using widgets in the dashboard under appearance, manage the primary sidebar, add or remove items, and save to refresh the page.

Learn WordPress blog styling basics, including portable shareable images, breaking text with colors, headers, bullets, and photos, and using larger fonts with bold or italic emphasis.

Explore how to optimize WordPress sites with SEO plugins like Yoast and all in one SEO pack, focusing on readability, focus keywords, and search visibility.

learn how to collect emails, add signup forms, and choose an email provider for your author website, and understand the legal information needed for email collection.

Clarify what subscribers receive and how you use their name and email when collecting data via WordPress forms. Include a privacy policy link and consult a lawyer to stay compliant.

Enable privacy policy in WordPress by updating to version 4.9.6, then select or create a privacy page under settings > privacy, publish it, and add it to footer or forms.

Create clear terms and conditions and privacy policy pages on your site, link them in the footer and forms, and keep content updated with legal guidance and templates.

Install and configure a WordPress cookie consent plugin, set the cookie policy page and privacy policy, and customize its style, position, and behavior.

Learn to set up a newsletter with Mailer Lite, automate emails, and manage costs as your list grows from free to 1,000 subscribers, and people can unsubscribe.

Explore several email marketing providers beyond Miller Lite, including MailChimp, Convert, and Flow Desk; compare pricing, free trials, automation features, and unlimited subscribers to help authors choose.

Learn to create an embedded Mailer Lite form for WordPress, add name and email fields, assign subscriber groups, enable double opt-in, and auto-deliver first two chapters as a free offer.

Create an email signup form, get the embed code, copy the HTML, and paste it into the HTML module on your site, then save to display the form.

Keep your site up to date by updating plugins and performing regular backups. Explore the basics of updating plugins and backups to prevent issues and ensure smooth operation.

Learn to maintain WordPress plugins by updating them one at a time from the plugins page, verify updates with a green banner, and regularly deactivate unused plugins for site health.

Update WordPress from the dashboard's update screen, review the WordPress version, plugins, and themes, and back up your site before proceeding.

Maintain your WordPress site by updating plugins, themes, and WordPress core, and by making regular backups using a backup plugin. Save backups to Google Drive or Dropbox.

Back up your WordPress site monthly and before core, theme, or plugin updates, using draft plus backups to save database and files, then download and store offsite.

Apply practical marketing tips to attract visitors to your WordPress site, because you can't just build it and wait for people to come.

Market your author website with three core online methods: content marketing using blog posts or videos with SEO keywords and Pinterest; social media on Instagram; and email marketing.