User Experience comprises many aspects of a website, including the navigation, the content, the design, and the staying power.  While there are some blanket rules for web usability (from Wikipedia)…

1. Present information to your users in a clear and concise way.
2. Remove any ambiguity regarding the consequences of an action e.g. clicking on delete/remove/purchase.
3. Organize your content so that it’s obvious how to use the site.

…there are also specific usability & user experience guidelines for each web niche, including author and book websites.  Having designed many author and book websites, and tracked analytics to determine design success, here are some guidelines I’ve come up with that help create a great user experience for author and book website:  Read on to learn about usability and user experience tips for author and book websites…

This week in “Ask a Reviewer” I’m delighted to feature some quick tips from Marc Schuster of Small Press Reviews, where Marc and Tom Powers review works from small and independent presses

My biggest “do” is to keep the pitch concise. It’s good for authors to remember that we reviewers usually have day jobs! If I get a query that goes on and on, I begin to wonder whether the book will have a tendency to ramble incoherently as well. Basically, I’d like a sentence or two that tells me what the book is about and why I might like it. If that brief description of the book intrigues me, then I’ll ask to read a copy.

My biggest “don’t” is to avoid asking a reviewer to read a PDF copy of the book. I spend so much time in front of a computer all day that when I read for fun, I prefer to do it the old fashioned way–with an actual book, words on a page.

In addition to the books he reviews on his blog, Marc’s first novel is The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom and Party Girl. You can learn more about Marc Schuster at his website: http://www.marcschuster.com.

This week in the Client Spotlight is Ann Levine, Esq., Law School Admissions Consulting Expert and author of The Law School Admission Game: Play Like an Expert. Ann is the former director of admissions for two ABA law schools, and more than 100,000 law school applicants have relied upon her Law School Expert blog to guide them through the application process.

What do you wish you’d known about creating an online presence before you started?

I wish I’d understood the importance of branding. I started in 2004 with a free template website that looked TERRIBLE. I spent a lot of time teaching myself everything and thought that because I had a lot of credible information on my site that the site itself should appear credible. A year later I upgraded to a basic web design and paid about $700 for it – which felt like a lot at the time. It looked better, but was really still a template. It did the trick but didn’t brand me because it was fairly generic. Only when I (literally) sat down with someone who understood my brand and what my online presence needed to project did I feel like I was projecting credibility and deserving of charging higher prices to my clients as a result.

What’s the most important thing you learned about online marketing along the way?

To employ experts. People hire me to have an expert at their side through the law school application process, and I hire others because I don’t have time to become an expert on web marketing, SEO, PPC, etc. So, I hired people to help me who already know this stuff better than I ever could learning it on my own. It’s not as expensive as you might imagine, but it only works if you work with people who “get” what you’re all about. I flailed using big companies that I found online and only thrived once I found that one person who understood what I meant in a sentence long email or 2 second phone call and didn’t need me to coach her to get what I wanted.

What’s the best advice you have for someone just getting started now?

Use a blog to provide quality information and form relationships with others in your field and related fields. If you are good with people, Twitter and Facebook. Network constantly, and help others in their quests because good acts come back around.

There are so many awards out there online – for everything from awards for women in business to awards for great use of the internet to awards for the best blogs. Some are free to enter, and some have an entrance fee. Some offer a cash prize, and others the notoriety that comes from winning. All help put your name out there, though, and may be a way to get your product in the hands of major influencers. So, if you’re looking for another way to get your name out there and bring some great positive attention to your work, consider entering your project (or having a friend nominate you) for an award!

This isn’t the time to be shy or lack confidence as there’s little-to-no downside to entering (especially the ones with no entrance fee). And the benefit of being nominated as a finalist or winner is huge.

Since I often work on websites for authors/books, I have collected a list of awards that you may not yet know about as an author.

Read on for online awards offered to authors/books…

This week in the Client Spotlight is Laurie Richter, author of Put Me In, Coach! A Parent’s Guide to Winning the Game of College Recruiting. Laurie’s book is an essential guidebook for parents and their student-athletes who want to be recruited to compete in athletics at the college level.

What do you wish you’d known about creating an online presence before you started?

I wish I’d had a better understanding of how search engines work to drive people to your site, and how to develop language and content based on that. I still don’t know enough about it and it’s not what I want to spend my time thinking about. My instincts were to just write good content without regard to how it shows up in search engines.

What’s the most important thing you learned about online marketing along the way?

The most important thing I’ve learned is that if you want to be successful at selling something on the web, FIRST you need to build a relationship with people who come to your site and you need to provide them with something real whether it’s content, product or something else. You need to give a little before you can take. I’ve also learned that it’s a constant process of fine tuning – your site is always a work in progress.

What’s the best advice you have for someone just getting started now?

Try to look at your site from the point of view of someone coming to it and what their needs are – vs. just focusing on what you want to get out there and say about yourself and your product or service. If you misjudge what people need and want because you’re focused on you and not them, your site won’t be relevant.

This week in “Ask a Reviewer” I’m delighted to feature Irene Watson, Managing Editor & founder of ReaderViews.com. Reader Views reviews books and offers publicity for well known authors such as James Patterson and those that are unknown, self-published or published by a small press. Besides reviews of books, they provide services for authors such as book publicity services, editing, author interviews, literary book awards, as well as coaching to write book proposals. They will also act as an author agent and send book proposals to a traditional publisher on their list. Irene is also a host of Inside Scoop Live, a podcast that specializes in author interviews. You can learn more about Irene at her website: http://www.irenewatson.com.

Here’s Irene’s advice when it comes to getting your book reviewed…

This week in the Client Spotlight is Diane Marie Pinkard, author of Just Treat Me Like I Matter: The Heart of Sales. Diane’s passion lies in the business of human relations. Her love for teaching, training, and selling ultimately evolved into her own personal study about human dynamics and what makes people tick. Her book offers inspiring tools and techniques for developing strong interpersonal relationship with clients.

There is a saying: “The reason the world is round is so people will not be able to see what is coming or lies ahead.” Well, I can really relate to that. For a long time I have had a passion to write a book. And I did write a book. But my belief was that writing the book was the majority of the work; that everything would just fall into place and everybody would want to buy my book. Wow, was I in for a HUGE RUDE awakening. Writing the the book was just a tip of the iceburg! The work truly starts after the book is written – that is my lesson learned! So the advice I have for anyone wishing to follow your dreams – be sure you also are EXTREMELY passionate and tenacious about fulfilling your dreams. And that you have the positive mindset to travel the journey and weather the storms to accomplish your dreams and goals. Also, you must have the unbending commitment, belief, and faith to enjoy the ride (up and down), learn the lessons (many) and tackle the challenges (also, many) that present themselves along the way. Most important: Come from a place of what you have to offer to the universe – not what you expect (or hope) the universe is going to give you (i.e. notoreity, money). These lovely gifts will naturally come when you properly align your forces with what you have to give – not with your expectations of what you want to get! And when you are committed this special place – from your heart and soul – you naturally open up to the universe and the right people come to help you.

This week in “Ask a Reviewer” I’m delighted to feature Douglas Wolk, freelance journalist and critic for the New York Times, Blender, the Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Rolling Stone, and Salon.com (among others). Douglas’ most recent book is the Eisner Award winning Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean, published in 2007 by Da Capo Press.

Here’s Douglas’ advice when it comes to getting your book reviewed…

As long as books remain as they’ve been, they’ll most often be sold by their cover. As things change the way of the Kindle, iPhone, and various online venues, however, the purpose served by a book’s cover now changes focus to the digital realm, and increasingly books are purchased based on recommendation engines or peer reviews, with a nod to a small thumbnail of the book cover as an afterthought. If we look at the evolution of album cover design, to cassette case design, to CD cover design to online presence design we see the common thread of personal branding evolves as our consumption evolves… so is true for books.

Something to consider for the digitization of book cover design is that it must coexist with the interfaces used to read — be it the Kindle or the iPhone or a web page. This means that it cannot be just about aesthetics and message, but also about functionality. Your website may be stunning, but if it’s unusable that doesn’t matter.

As someone interested in how design evolution parallels technological evolution, I look forward to seeing how book design changes given new technologies, but in the meantime, we can all revel in the following sites that catalog beautiful book cover design.

» Read on…

This week in the Client Spotlight is Bill Trimble, author of Screw It! I’ll Be My Own Contractor. Bill provides expert experience-based advice to the home owner who wants to tackle large home improvements themself. Bill’s website highlights his current book, but is built to be able to highlight future projects moving forward.

What do you wish you’d known about creating an online presence before you started?

Honestly – that it was relatively simple. I anticipated much more time and effort than it actually took to get up and running.

What’s the most important thing you learned about online marketing along the way?

I have discovered that having an on-line presence means very little until you can create traffic to your site. There are hundreds of millions of people on the internet every day, but they have to know how to find you.

What’s the best advice you have for someone just getting started now?

Have a concept in mind before you go to a professional. Think about what you want the home page to look like and what you want to say there. How many pages or tabs are essential? What are the color schemes you want to use? Keep it simple, you can add on after you’re live and see what kind of feedback you get. Then give it to Kate. She will have you on the internet before you can say Kate McMillan. I’ve received many positive comments on my website, so I am really proud of it.