Why WordPress is the best option for your author website when you have so many options to choose from?

That seems to have been the case eons ago when the only options you had back then were Blogger and Typepad.

But now we have Substack and Beehiiv which is a combination of email marketing and a website rolled into one.

Heck, even a solution like Payhip and Gumroad now allows you to create a blog in addition to setting up an online storefront.

Don’t like any of them?

Well, you can use Squarespace instead. It’s the closest thing you can get to the self-hosted WordPress minus the technical boondoggle.

Thanks to these platforms, you now have everything you need in one place.

So, no more trying to piece all the separate components together now you can access everything you need in a single dashboard.

Yes, it’s true that we have more choices than ever when it comes to website building.

But despite all that, WordPress is still the top contender because of this one reason.

Why WordPress is the best option for your author website

What’s not to love about WordPress when you can use it to make anything you want it to be?

Do you need a website for lead generation?

Well, you can do that with WordPress.

Want to create an online store but prefer something that costs a lot less than Shopify?

Of course, you can do that with WordPress.

But what if you want to have a membership site where your audience can access your content with a recurring payment?

Guess what? You can do that with WordPress.

What if you only want a simple website to showcase your books and a blog?

That’s fine too since that’s what many people use WordPress for especially during the heydays of the Internet marketing era.

You can add other components to your website later on whenever your author business calls for it.

Yes, many people love WordPress because of how flexible it is.

But the one reason that makes WordPress the best choice is none other than it works amazingly well for SEO.

The three-letter alphabet soup that can make a whole difference in your online presence

For many of us, the SEO alphabet soup can make you feel like you want to scratch the itch on your back.

But in reality, that’s how your audience can discover you online no matter how much you loathe SEO.

With the right keyword, you can bet that your audience will eventually stumble upon you regardless of how long it takes.

This is where WordPress shines.

Thanks to a WordPress plugin like Yoast SEO and an SEO tool like Ubersuggest, optimizing your website for the search engine no longer feels like solving the mystery of a murder in a locked room.

All you need to do is to follow the guidelines that the plugin outlined for you and you’re good to go.

Not only that you can use the plugin to optimize your blog post. But you can use it to optimize your homepage and other pages on your website too.

When you do it right with no one-trick pony whatsoever, the traffic will start to flow through your website.

Of course, there are many factors that can affect your website traffic.

But suffice it for me to say WordPress makes discoverability less of a hurdle compared to any other platforms out there.

But it doesn’t need to be the WordPress!

Well, you’re right. Your website doesn’t need to be on WordPress to reap the same benefit.

You can pretty much get the same result if you know how to optimize your website for the search engine.

But here’s the thing I discovered when I’m using platforms other than WordPress.

Even if you do the optimization right, chances for your audience to discover your website is still low.

The only way you can increase the odds for your website to do well in the search engine is if you’ve been around for years and you have a large website.

Of course, having a small website isn’t going to guarantee that your website will do well on the search engine if it’s on WordPress.

But I have to say you’re more likely to see the result much faster if you’re using WordPress as opposed to other platforms.

The most reliable way for your audience to discover you online

Many of us tend to associate online discoverability with social media, not so much with a website.

And that holds true with the rise of social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.

So, the idea of online discoverability through a website may seem outdated considering this is where most people are online these days.

Gone are those days when people will stumble upon your website by a pure chance.

Despite social media being the place where most people are hanging out online these days, we know how unreliable online discovery through social media is.

Sure, it may not be that hard for you to garner thousands of followers for the first few months on that said platform.

But the next thing you know, what greets you in the end is the sound of a cricket when they make changes to the algorithm.

So no more buzzing notifications when people start following you. And your online discovery will start to experience a slow death when you’re out of the loop with social media for quite some time.

It’s because of this reason that having your own website is worth the endeavor.

Yes, it can feel like a ghost town, with not much going around at first.

But after a while, you notice that the traffic to your website starts to pick up.

As long as you’re consistent, the traffic to your website is less likely to die down, even if you’re only away for a few weeks or so.

Try doing the same on social media and count your blessings if you manage to gain the same traction as it was before.

Should you be on WordPress then?

I’ll be the first to admit that WordPress isn’t for the faint-hearted because of its technical boondoggle.

But guess what? You’ll be just fine if you’re willing to roll your sleeves and learn as much as you can about WordPress.

Even with that, whether you should be on WordPress or not will still depend on what you want to do with your website.

Does your book marketing centers around content marketing, particularly blogging?

Also, do you plan to use your website to sell your books directly to your readers at some point?

If you answer yes to these questions, then it’s worth considering creating your website on WordPress as opposed to any other platforms.

Even if you find WordPress isn’t for you after some time, you can always export your content to a different platform.

No biggie here.