So many profiles, so little time. And most social media platforms only give you one spot for a link on those profiles. How can an author make the most of a single link in their bio?
You already know the answer because you’ve seen them before: specially-made mini-websites—like those you can customize through Linktree, Milkshake, and others. Today, I’m talking you through how to make your own for free with Google Sites. (And, hey, pssst… If you’re a student of my author website course, you’ll also notice a new video lesson out today that teaches you an extra trick or two!)
Scroll all the way down for the video tutorial!
Step One: Create & Customize a New Site
If you have a Google Drive, you have Google Sites!
Google Sites have several templates to browse if you like, but I prefer starting with a blank template. Once you have your new site in front of you, head to the Themes tab. What Google gives you might not spark joy at first, but looks can be deceiving. You can change the theme color and customize the fonts as I show in the video. You can even create your own theme—it’s just a matter of how creative you want to get. Though, when it comes to the link in bio, I’d keep it simple for legibility’s sake.
Step Two: Add Your Content
I will recommend here what I recommend in the course: make a list of the links you want to add and compile the URLs in a Google Doc or somewhere else easy to access for easy copying and pasting.
If you’re a newer writer, this will likely be a straight list of your social media profiles and your newsletter sign-up link.
However, if you’re a more established writer with many more places to send readers—your signed paperbacks and merch shop, your beta reader sign-up form, your blog, etc.—you ought to make use of the “social links” block Google Sites has. Since it enables you to add the logos yourself, you might even have a row of links for booksellers and a row for your social media profiles!
You can get more creative by using the other blocks on offer, but again, you might find that keeping it simple will make it easier for potential readers to navigate.
Step Three: Preview on Mobile
Google Sites, like any website creation platform, lets you preview what you made before publishing. My advice to you is to make sure you’re paying attention to how your site looks on mobile, since that is where readers will be mostly if not exclusively interacting with your site. You can almost ignore how it might look on a laptop.
Step Four: Change the Settings
There is a lot of fine-tuning you can do in the settings, like adding a logo and favicon, connecting to Google Analytics, and adding a banner at the top of the site. The really important part, though, is adding a custom domain, because the free URL Google gives you for free is quite long and clunky! I walk you through that process step by step in the course.
But if you haven’t taken the course… If you already have an author website, you can create a URL redirect to your Google Site if you’re able. As a quick fix, you could also use a URL shortener.
Step Five: Publish & Share
Once you’re satisfied, go ahead and publish! Copy and paste the link into all of your social media profiles! You could even add it to the backs of your books or at the bottom of posts you publish on other platforms like Medium to ensure a reader never has to wonder how they can get more of you in their life ever again.
Happy writing (and website building)!
