Once you’ve determined the appearance of your website, the next step is to plan how it’ll be organized. This is called the site architecture. You’ll decide what pages will be on your website and the order in which they will be arranged.

Generally, I recommend that you have at least the following four pages at your website:
• Home page – This page introduces readers to your book. It should include headlines and body copy that tout your book, just like the teaser on a book’s back cover.
• About the Author page – This gives the author’s biography. It should include the author’s photograph.
• Sample Pages page – Give readers a sample chapter (preferably the first chapter if you’ve written a novel) that will hook them into buying your book.
• Contact page – This gives an email and probably a snail mail address that the media or fans can reach you at.

I also recommend – but must honestly advise you that it’s not necessary – that you also have the following pages:
• What Others are Saying about the Book page – This is a running collection of favorable quotations culled from reviews of or reports about your book.
• Interview with the Author page – Readers are very interested in their favorite authors, wondering how they wrote their books, about their personal lives, and what advice they might dispense about writing or the book’s topic. You can make up the interview with yourself or with permission use one that someone else has done of you.
• Photo Gallery – Large, downloadable pictures of the author and the book cover appear on this page. It largely is meant for the media, which may need high quality photos for articles appearing in newspapers, magazines and on the web.
• Blog – Use a blog to keep readers updated about your next book signing/reading, your next book, thoughts about other books (or the topic you’re book is about) and more. It should be updated at least once a week.
• Keynote Speaking page – This page explains how to set up book signings/readings or keynote speaking addresses with you.
• Online store page – One way to make money off your book other than royalties is through merchandising. For example, you might sell clothing, coffee mugs, and other goods related to your book.

Some authors use other special web pages related to their book. For example, one of my clients whose novel is about living on the Oregon coast cleverly included a page of crab and fish recipes for dishes mentioned in his book.