IT'S NOT COMPLICATED!
He asks the question: "Which is better? Bigger? Or Smaller? The children answer in unison, "Bigger!"
"Are you sure?" he asks.
One little girl slaps her hands on the table, vigorously nods her head, and says, "I am ab-so-lute-ly positive!"
The slogan: It's not complicated.
So, this makes me think even more about the value or disadvantage of having a website and a blog. I've had both from the beginning of my publishing career, which began in 2007. I created both, and I maintain both. The blog is free, and I only pay $14.00 a month to fiddle with the website all I want.
As time goes by, my website receives fewer and fewer page views and comments, and most of those are spam--usually a service to help me promote my books. The number of visitors has also dwindled.
My blog receives all the attention, but that's probably because I promote it.
More and more, I see combined sites--website that is also a blog. At first I didn't care for this arrangement, but I'm beginning to see the merits.
In addition, I'd like to reduce the time spent updating two sites.
Pros:
One site to maintain.
No fees.
Amazon gives me an author page with all my books. Why duplicate that on a website, when Amazon gives far more information?
My books and profile are on Goodreads.
My books and profile are on Ask David.
My books and profile are on my publisher's website.
I can control the Spam.
Cons:
Does a combined website/blog look professional?
I don't care for each page on the blog carrying the same sidebar information as on the home page.
What is your opinion?
~*~Which situation do you have? Are you satisfied?
~*~As the commercial indicates, "It's not complicated."
That's my main goal--uncomplicated.
My website: www.celiayeary.com
Hi Celia, I faced the same dilemma last year and I found it impossible to maintain both. A website is only as good as the number of visitors your attract. Change attracts. I found I was changing the blog, of course, but paying no attention to the "main" website.
ReplyDeleteLast December, I followed some wise advice and combined a website with a blog. Now, it's easy to keep things more relevant and up-to-date. And by rolling both into one gives you tremendous flexibility.
...For what it's worth, easier is better.
I have both but my husband maintains my website.
ReplyDeleteCelia,
ReplyDeleteThe way I look at it is, if you can free up a little time, that's a good thing. And you said the website was not getting a lot of visits.
I agree with Tom. Why not combine the blog and website into one and concentrate on that one thing?
Originally I used the free option from Weebly.com, for my website. Once I realized it was only about $40 per year, I changed it so that my website has only my name as the domain, and no "Weebly.com" is in it. They automatically forwarded everything to my new website.
ReplyDeleteThe first page of my website is my blog. The rest of the pages I can change at will, whenever I want to. In 4 years I've only had a problem accessing it once, and with a quick e-mail to the HQ, it was taken care of in less than an hour. I'm very satisfied with them. And with the royalties I make, the less I need to spend up front the better! More for promotions of other kinds!
I confess to having both, but paying no attention to the website. In fact I have 2 websites, one for the chicklits and another for all my books, plus tons of blogs. I don't use all of them all the time, but I like to seem available.
ReplyDeleteMorgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com
Tom--ahhh, so, it's Not Complicated.
ReplyDeleteI need to take a closer look at yours...thank you.
Caroline--yeah, see? You have a right hand man! Mine does many things for me, but a website is foreign territory. I have to do it all.
ReplyDeleteLilburn does a great job with everything. May I borrow him , please?
Thanks.
I have both. They serve different purposes. The blog is to show yourself in a positive light through
ReplyDeletewhat you post and hopefully gain followers. The website is more of a spotlight on your work, a
place to encourage readers to buy your books. Like a printed ad.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletedon't know, but I would try to find a better design to overlay blogger's templates. There are a lot of designers out there that make beautiful sets for blogger so that's a case in their favor. Wordpress are stingy so and so's as far as that goes and you can't noodle with the html like you can with blogspot. So while you can upload a custom background, you're stuck with their free templates. And they're not that pretty. (see one blog http://julismapsroom.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeletevs the other:
http://julidrevezzo.com/blog/
I prefer raw HTML sites for that, but I like blogging too... So...they both have their solid points and drawbacks.
One thing I will say is that I've *heard* having "blogspot.com" "wordpress.com" in your url looks unprofessional. So I'd say if you invest in anything definitely go for the domain name and redirect more than anything.
I'm very interested in your responses for this, Celia. I'm still paying someone to maintain my website, and I've fallen out of love with blogging. I'll get back on the blogging train, and I already have a topic in mind for my come-back post, but I'm not sure I want to hitch both of these together. I maintain a site for my indie publishing house and it is plugging along just fine.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I can figure, having two sites (web and blog) gives me 2 ways to be discovered. At this point, I don't think I'm going to rock the boat, though I will be watching closely to see what you decide to do!
Juli--very interesting thoughts. I looked at both sites, and yes, the BlogSpot is prettier. I, too, have been told that having Weebly or whatever in your url looks unprofessional. Even without those, I wonder if mine looks professional enough. However, I won't pay the amount a website maker asks to get something outstanding. If I were Nora Roberts, and Susan Mallery, sure, I'd do that.
ReplyDeleteMy website is by Yahoo Website Builder for Small Business. As you say, the choices for templates are limited. I could upgrade and pay more and have more choices. Probably, I won't.
The URL for my website is
www.celiayeary.com
My blog is
www.celiyeary.blogpot.com
Thank you so much for your help.
Laurean--I'm still considering combining the two, but as of yet I haven't found a good site for me to use. I can find drawbacks on most of them. For the present, I'll stick with two sites, with the idea to keep looking and thinking.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Fiona--you made a good point of how much to spend depending on how much we make on royalties. Honestly, I'd love to have a professionally done website, but at my level on the success scale, I don't quite see it.
ReplyDeleteI've known about Weebly from the beginning, but now I can't recall any specifics for it.
I'd love my blog to have a more professional touch, but as of yet I can't figure out how to do it. I look at all the free sites, and never find anything that's "me." So, that's why I'm staying with the blue sky--I love blue.
Thanks!
Morgan--that's a good way to go. Have a website...but don't pay much attention to it. The only time I changed anything is either when I have a new release, or I have the urge to experiment with different templates.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Barbara--you have the right idea, exactly right. Maybe I will stay with two...for now.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Maggie--I think we're pretty much on the same page. Don't rock the boat. As usual, I begin thinking of making some big change right when I need to be thinking and planning for the grandsons and son to arrive next Tuesday. That should be my priority...but I do go from one thing to another.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Whenreaders seek you out, they're going to be looking for your website. And while they're there, they're going to want to check out your blog. Having that blog on your website is a big advantage. If you wanted to, you could have guest bloggers which would increase the number of visitors to your website where all those books are with excerpts and buy links.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, I think it's good to make it easy for readers to find you and a website is essential for that.
My website and blog are together and I really like it.
Sarah--You made a good point for me--at least put a link on my website to my blog. On yours, you have Blog at the top as a page/site, and I clicked on it and got your blog. I could do that same thing on my website--just put the link to my blog. A visitor couldn't tell or probably care if they were together. I need to do that right away.
ReplyDeleteAs far as having visitors on my blog, I began with that plan to have about two a month.
A much more successful author than I, someone I didn't even know, told me--stop interviewing other authors on your blog--use your blog to promote yourself, not other authors.
She went on to say to keep my blog "all Texas" and "all about me."
I took her advice, and that's what I do.
Since then, I've been pleased with responses I get on my blog. Really, it's the thing that makes me most happy, when I get personal messages.
I think your blog/website is so pretty. I love the colors and images. Just beautiful.
My website and blog are intertwined. The blog is a page on the website and that's what I usually promo because it gets them to the website anyway. ;)
ReplyDeleteA lot of sites these days are very easy (drag and drop) or they have easy tutorials where you can do your own updates. You can not have a sidebar on some pages and keep them on others. Lots of choices and formats to choose from.