Free Resources to Build a Professional Website for Your Business Book

Once you’ve written a business book, you’ll need to create a professional online presence to promote it. Building an author website showcasing your book is one of the best ways to engage potential readers, highlight your thought leadership, and attract new business opportunities. 

The good news is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to create a stunning and effective website—there are many free resources available to help you get started and lay the groundwork for your success. 

Website builders

The foundation of any great author website is its platform. Several website builders allow you to create and customize a website without needing technical expertise. And thanks to a few free options, you can build a beautiful website without eating into your book marketing budget. 

Wix

Wix is one of the most user-friendly website builders, and its free version offers a lot of flexibility. You can choose from hundreds of templates, and the drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to customize your site without knowing any code. Wix provides a free domain with “wixsite.com” branding, and you can upgrade to a custom domain when you’re ready. Wix also offers a free SSL certificate, which enhances your website’s security. 

WordPress

Another great option is WordPress, which powers over 40 percent of websites on the internet—and it’s popular for good reason. This platform’s free version offers a selection of themes and a basic editor that allows you to create a great-looking professional website. You can create pages for your book, author bio, your own blog, and more. The free plan gives you a WordPress-branded domain (i.e., “yourname.wordpress.com”), with the option to upgrade to a custom domain later.

Google Sites

Google Sites is ideal for business authors looking for a simple, no-frills website. You can use a simple drag-and-drop editor to create a page for your book, link your site to online retailers, and add contact forms to build your email list. Google Sites is integrated with other Google tools, so if you’re already using other software within the Google Suite, this option might be perfect for you.

Free domain and hosting options

While website builders provide free domains with branding, you may eventually want your own custom domain to look more professional. Here are some free resources to help with domain registration and hosting:

• Freenom, which offers free domains with extensions like .tk, .ml, and .ga. While these aren’t as common as .com or .net, they still give you a unique URL for your website. You can use Freenom’s domain with any website builder, but just be aware that free domains might not rank as well in search engines as paid domains.
• InfinityFree, a free website hosting platform with no ads, unlimited disk space, and unlimited bandwidth. If you’re using a platform like WordPress.org (the self-hosted version of WordPress), you can install your website on InfinityFree’s servers and get started without spending a dime.
• AwardSpace, a provider that offers 1 GB of disk space, 5 GB of bandwidth, and one free domain with a .dx.am extension. It also supports WordPress and other installations for a more robust website-building experience.

Once you’ve chosen your website builder and host, you can get to the fun part: designing graphics to build your personal brand as a business author. 

Design tools for creating graphics

A well-designed website should include eye-catching visuals that complement your book cover design and the tone and themes within its pages. Even if you’re not a professionally trained graphic designer, you can use some free design tools to help you create professional-quality graphics. 

One of the most popular graphic design programs with a free option is Canva, which is perfect for creating everything from website banners to social media images. It offers a vast library of free templates, stock images, and icons, plus easy-to-use tools for customizing your designs. You can upload your book cover, author photo, and logo to incorporate into your website design.

If you need high-quality, royalty-free images for your website design, check out Unsplash for an enormous selection of beautiful (and free!) stock images that you can use on your homepage, blog, and promotional pages. Another library of free stock photos and videos is Pexels, which is a great place to find visuals that align with your book’s theme or the overall vibe of your website. 

Search engine optimization (SEO) tools

Building a website is just the first step—making sure people can find it is equally important. Search engine optimization (SEO) helps your website rank higher on Google and other search engines, bringing in more visitors.

There are two free and extremely popular SEO tools: 

• Google Search Console, a free tool from Google that helps you monitor your website’s performance in search results. It offers valuable insights into how your site is ranking and allows you to submit your website to Google for indexing.
• Yoast SEO, which comes as a free plugin on a WordPress website. Even the free version offers excellent tools to help you optimize your content for search engines. It will guide you through optimizing your headlines, meta descriptions, and other key SEO elements to improve your website’s visibility.

Although you can purchase additional subscriptions and apps to track your SEO, many business authors start with these free options before investing money into their websites. 

Email marketing tools 

Capturing email addresses from your website visitors is key to promoting your business book effectively. Once you build an email list, you can regularly communicate with potential readers and clients using an email marketing platform like Mailchimp. This is a very popular option, and its free plan is perfect for authors who are just starting out using email content as a business book marketing tactic. Mailchimp allows you to design your own emails, create signup forms, send automated campaigns, and track the results of your email marketing efforts. 

Many business authors have also used MailerLite, an easy-to-use email marketing platform that’s great for beginners. The free plan includes up to 1,000 subscribers, email campaigns, automation, and subscriber management tools to help you grow your audience and sell more books to ensure your success as a professional business author.

Leverage free website resources and our book marketing expertise to catapult your success!

Building a professional website for your business book doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. By using free website builders, design tools, and SEO resources, you can create a website that promotes your book effectively and draws in more readers. When you pair a great author website with our expertise in book marketing strategies, like book reviews, marketing copy, back cover text, and optimized online retailer listings, you’re setting yourself up for success. 

Connect with a book marketing professional today!