Elements of an A+ Author Website: The Buy Button

Posted by Sienna Condy on Dec 19 2011, 5:57 pm in author website, author website must haves, elements of an A+ author website

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts in this series, the last thing a reader wants to do when they visit an author’s website is do a serious search. A reader doesn’t want to have to think about how to find the information they need. They just want to find it—instantly.

At no point on the author’s website is this more true than when it comes to buy buttons.

If a reader has to search for a way to buy your book, chances are, unless you’re the latest NYT darling, you’ve lost a sale. A reader might—and I do mean might—if they’re really interested in your book, do a simple online search. But only if you’re lucky.

• Make buy buttons easy to find.

Links to places to purchase your latest book should be clearly displayed on the home page of your website. If you have a splash page before a reader enters your website, include buy buttons there too. A large chunk of the readers coming to your website are looking for your latest book and when they see it and want it, you want them to be able to complete that planned or impulse buy right away.

• Include more than one button.

As a reader, nothing makes me more frustrated than a buy button that takes me to a place I DON’T need. For example, a buy button that takes me to Amazon when I have a Nook is useless.

• Add ebook links.

Is your book available for Kindle or Nook? Make sure there’s a link for that. More and more often, authors are telling us that people are asking them whether their books are available as ebooks. Don’t make the readers wonder. Make it apparent with a button to a link directly in the Kindle or Nook store.

Note: You do not need a link to every place on the web that has your ebook. Include the ones you’re seeing big sales at such as Kindle, Nook, Smashwords and/or your epublisher, if applicable and move on.

• Don’t go overboard.

Too many buttons and links to buy your book can be as detrimental as not enough, so keep that in mind as you’re adding information. The purpose of buy buttons is to make it easy for the reader to purchase your book, but too many options can make it harder than it needs to be, which can also cause a reader not to buy.

Want to encourage your readers to buy more? Contact the team at Bemis Promotions at info@bemispromotions.com to find out what we can do to help you.

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