Get started with a website for FREE!
See? I told you I’d try and save you as much money and time as possible!
It’s still important to register your own domain name, but get it from someone like Dawn Patrol Publishing, just don’t get it from a company that relies on your to host with them. They will try to entice you by giving you your domain for free for one year, but that’s the trap! (See my previous post on Staking Your Claim)
I really don’t care if you host with me, but I have a pretty damn good DNS system with domain forwarding and masking!
Caveat, I am biased toward Wix, primarily because I’m a Wix partner and do most of my web design there. Yes, I can do WordPress, Shopify and others, but Wix is my primary go-to. My next post will be all about “How to save money on Wix”, which is most people’s biggest complaints about Wix. They just don’t know how to manage their subscription!
Anyway, back to the topic of setting up your author website for FREE!
I’m sure there is a multitude of hosting providers that I will not cover, I’m not saying they aren’t good, but do your research and look to the future. Sure you can start for FREE, but look at your growth path and costs if your book becomes a best-seller.
I’m just reviewing one’s I’ve actually helped writers, friends and family with.
Yes, Wix does have a free-forever account! However, like most free hosting accounts, it has limited capabilities. The advantage to starting here is as you grow your author brand, most of the tools you’ll need to add are built right into the premium plans. There’s no compatibility issues, no extra costs.
Once you upgrade to a Premium Plan, you are welcome to invite me as a site collaborator and I can help you. Don’t worry, you get to control my access! Here’s my site.
BookBub has been an awesome reader-centric site for years, they’ve recently launched their Author Websites service. It’s 100% FREE, but as with most sites, of course they want you to upgrade to their pay platforms, but it’s not required! Here’s my profile.
Probably the most basic of FREE services. It simply provides a catalog of all links for anything you want to link. All your social media accounts, websites, author profiles, etc. It also offers you the ability to sell digital products like eBooks and the paid versions offer much more customization. Here’s my profile.
Wordpress is the the most common used website building platform in the world. After all, it’s FREE and you can host it pretty much anywhere. Unfortunately, because it is so common, it’s also the ones that seem to get hacked the most.
You can start with their FREE account, but as soon as you start adding features and moving to their paid accounts, you’ll find Wix, Tertulia or even Pub-Site aren’t actually that expensive.
While Tertulia and Pub-Site are both awesome and popular author-specific hosting platforms, but I will not be reviewing them here as they don’t offer free accounts.
Personally! I view a domain like your address and your website like your house or store. It’s your identity on the Internet, a necessary expense.
The address directs people to you and the house protects and controls your digital content. The price can and should be amortized, which can significantly reduce the costs. It just needs to be budgeted for!
For those that already have one or more books on Amazon without a domain name—congratulations, in a future post I’ll cover FREE sites to promote your books. Including how to use those systems in lieu of an author website, which still isn’t recommended since there are free alternatives outlined above!