Most author and book websites are totally ineffective at generating reader interest, building name recognition for the author, and selling books. Many are so visually bad that visitors move onto their next destination as soon as they see the author’s home page. If the Internet is the primary way people learn about your book(s), then you are losing out on countless opportunities to reach a broader audience and deepen reader loyalty. Based on over 12 years of best practice research, here are ten of the most common causes for people to abandon a website they originally wanted to visit (see the article “Author Website Mistakes to Avoid” for explanations):

1. Home page takes more than 5 seconds to load
2. Home page contains more than one paragraph
3. Paragraphs use more than three lines of text
4. Disorganized content and it is all over the page
5. Lack of headlines
6. Lack of bullet points
7. Irrelevant content
8. Too many colors
9. More than two font sizes
10. Poor color combinations

Some of the causes listed above seem counterintuitive. For example, it is reasonable to think that many well-written paragraphs that are rich in content would captivate visitors. This may be true with books and magazines, but not on the Internet and especially when a visitor first lands on the author’s home page. This simply isn’t the way the Internet is used. When people land on a home page they immediately scan the content to see if it meets their needs – they do not actually read at this stage. You have to make a good impression and should you succeed visitors will reward you with spending more time learning about you and your book.

Think of the home page as a snapshot of key information with links to get to deeper content. You are building a relationship using your home page. If visitors like what they see then they’ll want more. Ask yourself, “What is the main reason people are coming to my website?” The answer may be to learn about you, to learn about your new book, or to acquire some knowledge on a subject in which you are an expert. It could be all three. If visitors don’t see this information immediately or if the information isn’t focused, most visitors will think it’s not there and leave.

To hold the attention of visitors longer, create headlines that clearly communicate what information is be found under that section. Only use headlines that match the reasons why people are visiting your site and order them by importance. Now when people visit your site for the first time they will easily be able to find the information they want (and perhaps some additional information they didn’t know they wanted). Make the headline font bold and one or two points larger than the main text.

Once you have your headlines, develop three to five key bullet points that directly address each headline. If the section is about you, identify the main points someone needs to know about you to convince them that they would value reading your book. List them in order of priority. Try to keep each bulleted sentence to one line on the computer screen.

After the bullets under each headline place a “Learn more…” link for visitors to click to read more detailed information. This new page is your place to be more descriptive.

By allowing visitors to easily find the information they want without having to work for it you’ll find that more people will stay on your site and spend time exploring. As a result, more people will learn about you and your book.