Before the internet became such an important part of our everyday life, all an author needed to do was sit down in front of her typewriter, hammer out tens of thousands of words, and hand the manuscript over to the publisher. The publisher would edit, proofread and print the manuscript, as well as take care of the marketing and sales of the book.
But being an author today is not that simple. You can’t just hand over the manuscript to the publisher and sit back and watch them do all the work. You need to be an equal participant in every stage of your book’s production and distribution if you want to make any impact.
In a world where everyone has access to the same resources to make themselves seen, you have to be seen *more*. Especially if you are a self-published author. Which means you have to build your brand, and market your book.
Your online presence is an essential part of this effort. And the platforms you select to build that presence determine how large or small, simple or complex, effective or basic that presence turns out to be.
Why is WordPress the best?
WordPress is the platform that I recommend to authors to build their website. And it’s because I’m biased. I make WordPress websites myself, and I will recommend it to anyone and everyone who asks.
But that’s not all. I recommend the platform also because I chose to build my expertise in WordPress for highly convincing reasons. They’re the same reasons that should make you pick WordPress.
[Note: In this article, I’m talking about WordPress.org, not WordPress.com. The latter is a website builder like Squarespace, Wix and Weebly. The difference between website builders and self-hosted software like WordPress.org will become clear as you read on.]
1. It has credibility
WordPress powers 43 per cent of all websites on the internet. Several well-known companies and authors use WordPress. Time magazine), Hachette Book Group,, Reader’s Digest, Brene Brown, Sarah Waters, Colleen Hoover, L.J. Ross and Maria E Cantu Alegre, to name a few.
Browse each of these websites and see for yourself how different they are from each other in terms of design and functionality. That’s how versatile WordPress is.
2. It is pocket-friendly
WordPress is the skeleton or framework on which a website is built. It’s an open-source software, and is always being developed by thousands of developers from around the world. It is always going to be free.
What you do need to pay for is the hosting, that is, the space where the website will physically live, as well as the domain name, aka, your site’s address. You’d be surprised how reasonably priced these are. In fact, it’s a steal if you weigh them against the possibilities WordPress opens up for you.
3. It is user-friendly
There’s a misconception that WordPress is complex and hard to work with. This might have been true a decade ago, but things have come a long way since then.
Its dashboard (demo) is quite intuitive and easy to navigate. With a few clicks you can find, install and customize the perfect theme for your needs from the thousands of pretty, free and paid, themes available in WordPress’s own library as well as others like Theme Forest and Mojo Marketplace.
Installing plugins for additional functionality, like sign-up forms, social media share, security and backups, is equally straightforward. Again, you can get away with just the free ones.
4. It has the best SEO
WordPress sites, more often than not, rank higher than other sites. Out of the box, WordPress’s clean code leads to faster load speeds, better security and a foundation that search engines find easy to navigate.
Google is a big fan of WordPress. Matt Cutts, Google’s chief engineer, said, “WordPress takes care of 80-90% of the mechanics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).” Though he said this in 2009, it’s even more relevant today.
Since discoverability is one of your top priorities as an author, with WordPress you will be able to take full advantage of its unparalleled SEO benefits.
5. It is safe
WordPress was first released in 2003. Since then, it has rallied an active and powerful community around it to support its development. As I said earlier, thousands of developers are part of the WordPress community and working towards making it better, faster, more accessible and, of course, safer. The community is always available to resolve any technical issues you might face with your website.
Apart from the WordPress code itself being quite robust against security vulnerabilities, you can also install additional security plugins to enhance the security of your website.
6. You control everything about it
What this means is that everything on your website — the content, the theme, the functionality, the code — belongs to you and will stay the same till you want to change it. This may not be the case if your website is built on a website builder.
For example, Squarespace has become quite popular these days. But if the company shuts down or you no longer want to be with them, you’ll have to build your website from scratch wherever you move to.
You’ll only be able to carry your content with you. The rest stays with Squarespace.
Whereas, with a self-hosted WordPress website, when moving from one hosting service to another, you can take everything you own, and be up and running with hardly any downtime.
7. It is flexible
From a simple website that only has information about you and a list of your books, to a complex one with a bookstore, forum, sign-ups, subscriptions, online courses, appointment booking, and more, the possibilities with WordPress are endless.
You won’t have to change platforms and start from scratch if your vision expands, or if your book becomes an overnight bestseller. You can just build up your website from where it’s currently at.
WordPress is customizable like no other platform. There are the plugins that I’ve already mentioned that can add almost any functionality you need. And if you want your favourite online software to integrate with your website, chances are it will be compatible with WordPress before any other platform.
Because WordPress is open-source and not owned by any single entity, it will always be around. In other words, your website and all its content, design, code, etc. are future-proof.
8. It is future-proof
With WordPress, you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket, whether it’s selecting a functionality or buying services like hosting, domain and theme. Instead, you’re bringing in bits and pieces from different places to make a whole website.
This means you get to shop around and buy based on your pocket and preferences. Plus, if one thing stops working, your website doesn’t topple like a house of cards. You can easily fix that one thing and get on with your work.
Summing it up
If you are an author with a long-term vision; if you would rather be spending your time writing the books you want to write than rebuilding your website again and again, then there is no better platform for you to invest your time, money and effort in than WordPress.
I’m not going to deny that the platform has a steeper learning curve when compared to page builders. But in the long run, you are going to be grateful for the flexibility, cost, future-proofing and complete control that the platform affords you. And more importantly, the wider readership its unparalleled SEO potential enables for you and your writing.
So, dream big. Think of the future. And make the right choice for you.