Introduction
This post discusses the characteristics of the OS Wayfarer author website. The rationale, purpose, and key components of our website are presented.
This website supports our travel and self-publishing endeavours (eBooks and blogging). It has served these functions since before our first eBook was self-published in 2011. The OS Wayfarer author website is home-grown and managed, independently hosted and based on WordPress.
The rationale for the OS Wayfarer author website
We have an independently hosted website, which we consider to be our most valuable self-publishing resource. As owners, we have complete control over how the website is managed, designed, and operated. Furthermore, we have chosen to self-manage the website which ensures our principles (using a “do it yourself” approach, maintaining quality, and ensuring sustainability), are met.
This approach supports the rationale for having an author website, by providing:
- an eBook marketing resource which we own and control. For example, if we used Facebook to market your eBooks then we are not in control because we do not own Facebook and Facebook can change the platform and its rules of operation at any time, and do so.
- a publishing platform to write (blog) about our interests (self-publishing, travel, photography etc) which underpin our eBooks.
- an opportunity to promote our brand. For example, everything about our website speaks to our OS Wayfarer brand. It would be difficult to visit our website and not realise it belonged to OS Wayfarer.
- An opportunity for us to explain who we are, our motivations, and what we are trying to achieve.
- sustainability of our self-publishing pursuits through enhanced quality control and cost-effectiveness.
Purpose of the OS Wayfarer author website
While the primary purpose of our author website is to market our eBooks, we see it as offering a broader experience. We want the website to represent the ecosystem that surrounds and supports our eBook endeavours.
It is our interest in travel, travel photography (and now little videos), self-publishing, and our “do-it-yourself” (DIY) approach that underpins our eBooks and together with the eBooks build the OS Wayfarer ecosystem. Our interests are conveyed through our blog.
Finally, the website gives us an opportunity to explain to readers who we are in terms of our experience, skills, qualifications, and interests.
This ecosystem can be accessed by website visitors through the top menu:
- Home: The OS Wayfarer’s home page has a photographic slider promoting each of our eBooks. A text graphic appears after a short period offering a button to “learn more” about the identified eBook. Selecting this button takes the reader to the relevant eBook landing page. Furthermore, the home page provides access to the latest travel and self-publishing posts.
- Our eBooks: Selecting this label will take the visitor to a list of our eBooks and links to the places of purchase. Links are also available to the Landing Page of each eBook for more information. Alternatively, by selecting an eBook from the drop-down list below the top label of Our eBooks takes the visitor to the Landing Page or summary of the eBook.
- Blog: Selecting this label will take the visitor to a two-column list of our posts. Alternatively, the drop-down list provides the opportunity to go directly to our eBook Self-publishing, Travel, and Journal blogs as well as further sub-menus.
- About: Selecting this label will take the visitor to a page with a description of our backgrounds. The drop-down list provides the opportunity to look at our profiles.
We will examine the various pages mentioned in more detail in a further post.
Our eBook: Six Days in Prague can be found on:
Amazon (Kindle US), Amazon (Kindle UK), Amazon (Kindle AU), and Amazon (Kindle CA)
Smashwords (EPUB), Smashwords also distributes to Oyster, Scribd, Yuzu, Blio and Inktera (formerly Page Foundry) and reaches OverDrive (world’s largest library ebook platform serving 20,000+ libraries), Baker & Taylor Axis 360, Gardners (Askews & Holts and Browns Books for Students), and Odilo (2,100 public libraries in North America, South America and Europe)
Kobo; Apple iTunes; Barnes and Noble
Note: Also available in print and PDF format from Blurb Bookstore
Key components of the OS Wayfarer author website
From the outset we decided to own and independently design, operate and maintain the OS Wayfarer author website. To achieve this, we needed five key components:
- A registered domain name. (oswayfarer.com)
- Independent website hosting. (Bluehost)
- A content management system (WordPress)
- A WordPress theme (the Avada theme since 2015)
- A range of free and paid plugins to ensure a secure, speedy, and functional website
A brief comment on each of these components is provided below.
Registered domain name
Our website domain name www.oswayfarer.com is registered through Netregistry.
Independent website hosting
Bluehost currently hosts our author website. We have found Bluehost to be satisfactory, but I noticed recently that I cannot access the backend of our website for maintenance tasks prior to 0600. Now it is not an issue because I am out exercising at that time. However, I will explore this issue when the current hosting arrangement is up for renewal.
One way to defray the costs is to join with other family members for shared hosting. We share the hosting costs with two of our children. It helps.
Bluehost offers several services and is particularly cognizant of WordPress and its requirements. It has comprehensive online resources to support beginners in undertaking new tasks. It should be noted that if you are just starting out then navigating the backend of Bluehost can be quite daunting. For example, navigating cPanel has a medium level learning curve.
Bluehost’s latest promotion offers:
- A free domain name for the first year
- Free SSL certificate included
- 1-Click WordPress install
- 24/7 support
- Hosting at a special intro offer of $A4.39/month
Of course, there are many other hosting services available. Choosing a host is a topic for a future post.
The WordPress content management system
There are two types of WordPress. First, there is WordPress.org which requires the user to have a domain name and a website host. Furthermore, the user is required to manage the site including the theme and chosen plugins. This is a very hands-on approach which may not suit everyone. The OS Wayfarer website uses the WordPress.org approach.
Secondly, there is WordPress.com which offers a more complete, but a more restrictive, hosting and management solution. This approach will be suitable for users who do not want to be too heavily involved in website management. However, to be effective it will require a payment plan of which there are a few levels.
WordPress theme and plugins
For the past five years, our chosen theme for our OS Wayfarer website has been the Avada theme. We are happy with this powerful and popular theme which continues to grow. Furthermore, it has developed a comprehensive library of particularly useful tutorials on YouTube which enhances the understanding of website management, especially for beginners.
WordPress plugins serve to improve the operation of WordPress. These plugins aid in presentation, security, speed, operation, search engine optimisation (SEO), and statistics. Most plugins offer a professional (paid version) version. The trap is using too many plugins because they impact negatively on performance.
Listed below are 15 of the more important plugins that are active on the OS Wayfarer author website.
Operation & Presentation
Fusion Core & Fusion Builder (Avada Theme – Paid)
Foo Gallery, FooBox Image Lightbox, FooGallery Owl Carousel (Image/photo management)
Enhanced Media Library
Content-Aware Sidebars
Custom Twitter Feeds
Marketing
MailChimp for WordPress (Premium – Mail List)
Boxzilla (Drop-down Mail List)
Social Media Widget
Performance
W3 Total Cache (Speed)
Yoast SEO Premium (Search Engine Optimisation – Paid)
GA Google Analytics (Statistics)
Broken Link Checker
Security
Titan Anti-spam & Security
Really Simple SSL
iThemes Security
Conclusion
This post was designed to introduce the OS Wayfarer author website. In doing so, the rationale for our website’s existence, what the website provides, and the components of the website were discussed. In a future post, we will delve deeper into our author website’s operation.
Do you have any advice for us? Please comment below.
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