Questions from our Website Guests

Frequently Asked Questions:

Question:  How long will it take for you to design my website?

Answer:  After you have filled out our author questionnaire, the creation process will take 1-2 weeks.

Question:  What is the author questionnaire?

Answer:  This questionnaire consists of detailed questions that will help us get to know you and your website goals.

Question:  Will I own my site once it is finished?

Answer:  Yes you will. 

Question:  What is bandwidth?

Answer:  Bandwidth refers to the amount of information a website can carry.

Question:  What are MB's?

Answer:  Megabytes

Question:  What are GB's?

Answer:  Gigabytes 

Question:  If I just want the basic Bronze package to begin with but realize later on that my site is becoming popular and between all the hits and emails and website activity, I need the larger package, can I switch?

Answer:  Yes of course.  You may add on any of our offered features at any time.  Send us an email and we will go over the details with you.  If our data shows that you are in need of the upgrade, we will contact you and go over your website activity and your options. 

Question:  How do I send you my pictures?

Answer:   Please send them as a whole picture.  Do not crop or resize them.  If you only want a portion of the picture on the site, send us a detailed explanation of which part of the picture you want omitted and we will do just that.  It needs to be stressed that we will not include any pictures on your site that contain nudity, offensive guestures, drugs, or copyrighted pictures.  You need to own the rights to the picture if you wish to have it on your site.

Question:  How will my pictures be displayed?

Answer:  You can choose to have a Photo Gallery or to just have one or two pictures on your homepage.  You might even want to include one picture per page.  If you would prefer to have a 'Photo Gallery' we can place up to 20 pictures on this page for you.  These can be pictures of your book(s), friends, family, etc.  You can also write a description for each of your photos.  The choice is yours.

Question:  Can I just have my picture and my book cover displayed?

Answer:  Yes.  We suggest that you do personalize your website with your picture and either the front cover or the front and back cover of your book(s).  If you have more than one book published, we can create a separate page titled, 'Novels' and place all of your books here. 

Question:  I've never had a website before, what should I be thinking of?

Answer:   Start to think about what you want your readers and guests to know about you.  What image are you going for?  Why type of picture of yourself (if any) do you want your readers to see.  Have a friend or photographer take a few pictures of you and choose one that represents your image.  It doesn't have to be a professional picture.  If you want people to see you on a boat in the lake, that is fine.  If you choose to submit a picture of you in a suit, dressed up for Halloween or with your family, all of these are fine.  It's up to you.  Again, if you are stuck for ideas, visit sites of other authors and see what types of things they include in their site.  If you have a question like, 'Do you guys do this?', email us and we will let you know.  Also, take a look at our featured author's website.  He has had great success with his site and it is partly because he offers so much to look at and read.  Don't worry if you can't find everything at once.  Slowly starting collecting ideas and save your favorite links and when the questionnaire is sent out, share them with us. 

Question:  Do you use Flash Macromedia?

Answer:   No.  Our sites are primarily informational only. 

Question:  What kind of payments do you accept?

Answer:   We accept major credit/debit cards, including Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, Discover, JCB and Diners.  Monthly payments will be set to auto deduct.

Question:  Can I change the colors of the designs?

Answer:  No.  Each design has set colors.  We offer over 60 designs, so look through them as you picture yourself and your book in its place. 

Question:  Who hosts the site?

Answer:   WebPagesForAuthors is a division of TriSpar specializing in website creation for authors.  If you would like to see our main website, you can visit www.TriSpar.com

Question:  What happens when I need something changed?

Answer:   Send us an email and we will change it for you.  We will also ask that you put your name for the subject line of each email correspondence so that your information is filtered directly into your folder and can be worked on by your website designer.

Question:  How does the newsletter work?

Answer:  You send us one page of information you would like disbursed to your email list.  We create the design based around your website template.  We send you the draft copy which you then must approve.  Once we get your okay, we email it to everyone on your list.  A confirmation will be sent to your email account with the details of the disbursement.

Question:  How do I get a mailing list together?

Answer:  You can use the names you have stored in your address book and we will add your visitors and their email addresses to your mailing list for you.  Once they click on the 'Mailing List' feature, their information will automatically be added to your growing list.  Your email list should be sent to us in a text format (notepad works well) with one address directly under the next.

Question:  What happens to my email list? 

Answer:  For your peace of mind, we want you to know that WebPagesForAuthors will NEVER sell, share, or rent your email lists to anyone EVER.  If you are ever to leave WebPagesForAuthors, we will delete the entire list from our newsletter files. 

Question:  I get a book trailer, how do I know what to put on there?

Answer:   Think of the book trailer as a mini commercial.  It will be in a slide show format so come up with a few intriguing sentences, ideas or comments based around your book and tell us what background color and what text color you wish to use.  We will create the trailer and get your okay.  Once completed, we will place the trailer on your website.  It can be on the Home Page or any other page you want it displayed.  Your guests will have to click on it for it to begin.

Question:  If I publish a second book, can I add it to my site?

Answer:  Of course!  We want this website to reflect all you have to offer your readers.  If you publish 10 books, we will add them to the website for you.  We only require that you send us a picture of the cover, preferably the picture your publisher sends you to review.  If the picture is to your liking we will do the rest.  You can also have the back cover displayed if you wish.  We can even add a link to it so when your readers click on the book, it takes them to an on-line bookstore for purchasing.

Question:  Who do you link my book to for sales?

Answer:   Any and all book-selling sites that your publishing company has listed you with.

Question:  Does my publisher have to approve my site or do I have to get permission from them to buy a site?

Answer:  No.  This is your own endeavor.  The only thing you will have to get permission for is if you want to allow your readers to read a preview of the first 5 pages of your book.

Question:  Can you provide a look inside my book at certain pages?

Answer:   We can definetly do this for you but you MUST get permission from your publisher. 

Question:  How does the blog work?

Answer:  We will set up the blog with the information from your questionnaire.  Once the blog is set up, we will email you the temporary user name and password and you then have the ability to change, add and delete whatever whenever.  On most of the blogs, there is an area that you can add links.  If you have a blog template that has an 'add link' area, we will include 5 links for you for free.  We can also register this blog in search engines to increase the chance of it ranking higher in the main search engine tools. 

Question:  How do I get links for my site?

Answer:  Search the internet for links that you want linked to your site.  Right click on the address bar and choose 'copy'.  When you submit an answer to our questionnaire (after you hire us to create your website, we send you a questionnaire that helps us in the design process) we ask that you send us an email with the links included.  In a blank place in the email, (after you have copied the link from the address bar) right click and hit paste.  This will paste the link you want in your email.  You many include up to 20 links, but it is also okay if you only have 5.

Question:  How can I communicate with my website designer?

Answer:  We do not offer direct phone contact with our design team.  If you have a question, send us an email and we will respond as soon as we can.  Once you have hired us to create your site, you will have an assigned web designer who will be working with you for all of your website needs.  We will also ask that you put your name for the subject line of each email correspondence so that your information is filtered directly into your folder and can be worked on by your website designer.

Question:  How do I know what to put on my site?

Answer:  This is up to you.  Search around some of the authors you know or enjoy reading and see what type of things they have on their sites.  Start to create an idea of what you want us to place on your site by encompassing all the interesting ideas other authors have utilized.

Question:  My publisher gives me a free website, why would I want to purchase one from you?

Answer:  Your free website is probably a generic page.  More than likely, your publisher has placed their logo or advertising banners on your site.  All of the authors on this free site will have an identical webpage.  This doesn't leave much room for creativity.  WebPagesForAuthors.com allows you the freedom to tell us what you want on your site plus offers you many other tools.  We take your ideas and our professional insight and build a site that is right for you.  Take a look at our featured author's site and email him if you have any questions about how we work.  As our home page states, we are only successful if our clients are happy...this is our motivation.

Question:  When I search for my website on google, yahoo or any other search engines, why doesn't it show up on the top 10?
 
Answer:  Of course there is no way to guarantee that our metatags (keywords which are inserted into your web design used by search engines, such as Google) pick up your website link and place it on the top 100.  You need to generate traffic to your website by marketing it yourself (this is what the email blasts or newsletters are great for). The more your website is clicked on and viewed, the higher it will go in the rankings.  Your search engine rank will also improve if others are willing to place a link to your site on their website (this is called link exchange or link affiliates).  If your publisher offers an author forum, this might be a great place to ask for this link exchange.  Other authors are almost always willing to help one another out.

Question:  Can I have a hit counter put onto my site?

Answer:  This option is available to you.  Most authors enjoy this feature because it shows the number of visitors they have each day.  Some authors don't wish to know the number of visitors and they opt out of this feature.