How did I afford this site?
So funny. I didn’t spent hundreds. I went for fun on my shoestring budget. How?
I am a new author and it took me forever to decide what I wanted. I bought my name and an alias web domain years ago. That’s cheap. Go Daddy and I paid a few dollars there.That year I created a horrible 5 page site and it was messy. I kept adding and it looked a mess. I hated the web design on godaddy and didn’t wait the year to transfer my site to something else.
Author friends mentioned wordpress for years, and my ears were open. So I opened a wordpress.com free site, but that wasn’t clickable and easy to maneuver around with. Someone who typed in my name would never know it was free. Transferring/Pointing the name to a free site is free on go daddy. I was okay with building my blog up there.
The problem with free is that no one can see the links. It’s not fixable the way I liked other pages. Those pages though are super expensive. Now that I sold books coming out this year, I wanted something where people can click easy, and I had a recommended list of people who charge hundreds of dollars. This wasn’t affordable, and I’m not artistic for web design. However what I am good at is researching. I love looking up things and figuring out anything. It’s a challenge when the question is not easily googled on the first page.
Designers were expensive until fate stepped in. I had a review at http://bookbriefs.blogspot.com/2013/04/reviewgiveaway-mything-you-by-greta.html and besides the awesome review I was in love with the design of that site. Colorful. Fun. I clicked on the designer’s site, http://booksbooksmorebooks.blogspot.com/?zx=7a137c1c74677fe3m who funny enough commented on my blog. It’s another pretty web site and good feelings.
So I contacted Livia, the designer. http://butterflyometerdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/08/book-blogger-special-book-briefs.html
Check out her prices. For about $50 I could get everything I wanted. Something pretty and unique and affordable. Livia was awesome to work with and she listened to everything I wanted. The first design she did, I hated. Way too dark, urban and vampirey. Not me. Then we had to be specific. I wanted the four elements or the four primary colors, vector art, etc. She can play with stock art too, but I didn’t want that. The second time, she hit the header perfectly. Then we tackled the background. When she had everything on her end, she pointed out that free sites cannot have customization.
Problem. Not for long. This means getting a host. Traci Hall recently told me at the last FRW post meeting lunch, she was considering a new site (which she’s not done) and she’d call godaddy. Her voice popped into my head. I looked at the premium ones recommended and what other authors say on feeds about these things. But I’ve always like the customer service of godaddy. I set up my new site hosting using wordpress. The paid for godaddy ones are NICER. http://loveinabook.com/ is on a new site as well. The old site http://loveinabookreviews.wordpress.com/ is still up for anyone to see the differences. Huge difference and that site didn’t cost me anymore than the premium hosting on godaddy.
Now back to Livia and victoriapinder.com. She had the unique design I wanted and paid for. After searching the nice ones, Livia’s already had my heart.
Go Daddy has wordpress if you buy a hosting package. And because I went from wordpress to wordpress, I kept everything I had online, export my free site info then import into my paid for custom option site. This is easy. Once the basic site with all the information was there, Livia added her awesome design.
I’m so happy now. victoriapinder.com was $100 between the design fee and the go daddy hosting. Next year I’ll just be paying godaddy, and Livia is I have any questions. She’s reasonable with questions in fees too, and I’m pretty savvy. I can figure things out.
Thought I’d share in case anyone else wants a site that’s eye catching while still looking to save money.
Livia even mentioned me on her site. She’s awesome people. http://butterflyometerdesigns.blogspot.com/
Frequently Asked Questions
How did this author build a professional author website on a tight budget?
The author built her website by purchasing a domain through GoDaddy for a few dollars, pointing it to a free WordPress.com site, and hiring a freelance blogger designer named Livia from Butterfly Ometer Designs for around $50. This approach delivered a customized, visually unique site without paying the hundreds of dollars that professional web designers typically charge.
What are the limitations of using a free WordPress.com site for an author website?
A free WordPress.com site has significant limitations for authors: visitors cannot click navigational links easily, customization options are severely restricted, and you cannot apply custom design themes or layouts. While pointing a purchased domain to a free WordPress site costs nothing through GoDaddy, the lack of clickable links and design flexibility makes it a poor long-term solution for author branding.
Is hiring a budget blog designer better than using a free website builder for an author site?
For authors wanting a polished, clickable, and visually distinctive site, hiring an affordable blog designer is a better choice than staying on a free platform. Free sites like WordPress.com block custom design and limit link functionality. A budget designer, such as Livia of Butterfly Ometer Designs at roughly $50, can deliver unique headers, custom backgrounds, and full design control that free builders simply cannot.
