Tuesday Tip: Do You Need a Website?

This is something you'll want to think long an hard about before jumping in. Do you need a website outside of your blog/Facebook page/Myspace page/etc? Every good author has one, right?

Maybe, maybe not. Here are some things to consider:

• Unlike Wordpress and Blogger and Facebook and the rest, a webpage will not necessarily be set up for you. It's going to involve a lot of work up front.
  
• The aforementioned social networking tools are free. A webpage will cost you money.
  
• Odds are you are already sinking time into your aforementioned social networking pages. (If not, you should be! Do that first.) A webpage will involve even more time away from writing. Just like your other pages, a webpage needs to be updated regularly to maximize its marketing power.
  

Also, just what, exactly, do you want your webpage to do for you that is not already being done by your other accounts? Your website should fulfill a specific need other than just being the go-to place for all things you. Certainly your website should have links to your Facebook page, the RSS of your blog, your Twitter feed, etc, but it should also have its own purpose. Know what that purpose is before you dive in.

In my case, I wanted a website where I could easily and effectively display information about my work without making people dig through my blog posts, where I could also collect and display my reviews and interviews. I wanted more organization capability than I had with any of the tools I was using so far.

It's been interesting, to say the least.

Next week we'll look at the first steps of starting your own webpage.

(And oh yeah, by the way, I have a website.)