Having A Website

Hi Nienna,
I actually bit the bullet a few months ago and created my own blogspot blog. I don't really use it to blog with the expectations of getting regular readers, but I do use it for the following:
1) Until I find an agent (hopefully this won't be much longer since I've got 2 agents reading fulls, 2 reading partials!!!), pretty much the only article on my blog is the first chapter of my unsold novel. Some agents don't want writing samples when you e-query, so I include a link to my blog in with my e-query and tell them they can read the first chapter there. Dunno if it works, but I have noticed that somebody has been viewing my profile (it shows you how many people have looked at your profile).
2) I also use it as a practical homepage. I've created links to many many agent blogs on it (among my other favorite writing websites) so no matter what computer I'm using, if I pull up my blog I've basically got my agent-hunting-dashboard right in front of me. Also, on the off chance you're directing an agent to your blog, it doesn't hurt to have a link to his/her blog on your blog. And queries aren't the only way to direct an agent to your blog: once you have a blog and you answer a question/post a comment on an agent's blog, it's basically very easy for him/her to click on your name and check out your blog.

My only advice for creating a blog is this: Keep it professional.

i think it's good for advertisement purposes, also as a way of getting people to know a little bit about you. Freewebs has really easy ones, you can check out my site for an example www.freewebs.com/toni1953

I promised myself that when i finally land a big book deal or an agent I'll spring for the domain name ;.)

I think it's a good idea, but make sure that it's professional. No pictures of your cat or jokes and such. Think of it as an online resume for a job. If it doesn't look professional, skip it.

Just my opinion.

I have a website (as my sig shows) which is a combination of writing/personal stuff. As I'm not querying at the moment I don't really worry about it, but if an agent ever wants to see it I guess I'll have to clean it up a bit. I have a problem with making things tacky. AKA no sense of style in any part of my life.

Take a look at Wordpress. I had someone else more familiar with php modify mine, but it comes with themes and looks professional - plus it's free.

JAGiunta said:

Take a look at Wordpress. I had someone else more familiar with php modify mine, but it comes with themes and looks professional - plus it's free.

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That's wordpress.com, BTW. The .org version has to be downloaded and hosted.

~Nancy

NiennaC said:

Acutally, I'm in the process of setting up the .org version. I've got a layout ready, I just need to learn how to actually install 'press - supposedly, it's not hard.

Click to expand...

A lot of webhosts use Fantastico to automate stuff like that. Maybe your webhost has it?

~Nancy

NiennaC said:

Not sure, what is Fantastico?

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Most webhosts have a Control Panel; the one at the webhost I use is called Cpanel, which is very popular among webhosts. Within Cpanel are all these nice icons that perform all kinds of different functions. One of them is Fantastico. Basically, it automates different scripts for you, like downloading and installing (in one of your online folders) wordpress.org.

~Nancy

There is a great tutorial for cpanel and installing wordpress at http://www.tamba2.org.uk/wordpress/ - this helped me figure out the lingo. I used Fantastico for one blog, but I also did it all myself with this tamba guide for most of the sites.

To use Fantastico, I used a tutorial from a google search- I don not remember which one, but I just did one and found this site: http://teamtutorials.com/web-development-tutorials/install-wordpress-using-fantastico-in-cpanel - you can find many others, to doing what JerseyGirl mentioned, and getting your wordpress blog set up quickly. I thought I used a tutorial from cpanel.com, but I could not find one with images this time (I like being able to see screen shots of how to do it!).

I have tried Dreamweaver, FrontPage, XSitePro, etc. but I now use mostly all Wordpress installations for my websites. I find that my sites are quickly indexed in google as google for some reason really loves blogs. I also customize wordpress with various themes so that they look like regular websites, and I get a nice effect as professional as any website I could create otherwise.

Best of luck!

oops- I also just realized this is the Ask the Agent forum so maybe I'm not supposed to post- if so then sorry, just adding an answer on the website techie aspect....

installing wordpress is a piece of cake as long as a) you have the correct specifications to use it and b) you follow the directions.

Who is your host? Is it a free host? If it is, you will not be able to install wordpress unless it allows you a MSQL Database. That is, if all you can do is upload .html documents and can't do .php, you won't be able to install wordpress.

certainly! you just make a new folder for it (but make sure the installation doesn't require that IT create the folder, rather than you choosing a directory to install it in, some installations are weird like that), like a subdomain http://blog.website.com etc.