Do Authors/Writers Really Need a Website?

Discover early to make a wise decision.

If you would ask anyone how you can look professional online, one (or both) of these two answers are very likely:

1. Be present on LinkedIn.
2. Have a website.

Indeed they are.

So why looking professional matter in the first place?

Let me be straight on point. There are many advantages of being professional online. First, if anyone wants to do business — that can range from freelancing to publishing, and everything in between—with you, they will definitely not be considering those memes you post on Twitter or selfies on Instagram. They are more likely to trust someone who looks more professional to them. Secondly, you can leverage your website for getting a job or an internship.

As we have already seen that LinkedIn profile and having a website are two most important tools that we can use to look professional. Let’s procrastinate discussing LinkedIn for now. It’s for another day.

Before I tell you all the rosy things about website and how you can use it to your advantage, let’s don’t miss its drawbacks.

Drawbacks of having a website:

• If you don’t know how to code—and because you’re a writer, I suppose you don’t know—you’ll have to pay a monthly sum that can range anywhere between $5 and $25 per month or more.
• Apart from being expensive you’ve to manage it like you do your other social media hadles. And if you’re not enjoying it, it’ll be pretty daunting.
• There are lot of technicalities. You have to purchase your own domain name (yourname in www.yourname.com), buy a hosting plan, pay for an SSL certificate and a lot more. If you aren’t familiar with these, it can be tough to get through.
• There’s no guarantee that you’ll ever be able to make any sale through your website let alone earning a sustainable income from it.

Advantages of having a website

• It gives you perfect place to groom your professional identity online which you can’t on most other places.