Yes. If you are wondering ‘Can I have my author website redesigned?’, the answer is definitely yes. Redesigning an existing author website can often be a better option than starting again from scratch.
Authors often come to us because their website was created several years ago and no longer feels right. Perhaps they’ve published several more books since it was built, the design looks dated, or the website has become difficult to update.
Sometimes the original web designer has retired or is no longer providing support.
Whatever the reason, you don’t necessarily need to throw everything away and start again.
A website redesign can give your existing site a new lease of life while preserving the content and information that are still useful.
Why might an author want a website redesign?
There are many reasons.
Your website looks dated
Web design changes over time.
A website that looked modern five or ten years ago can now look old-fashioned, particularly if it hasn’t been updated since it was created.
This doesn’t mean you need to follow every new design trend. Your website should still reflect your personality and your books.
But it should look professional and current.
You’ve published more books
Perhaps your original website was created when you had published one or two books.
Now you have six.
The original structure may no longer work.
A redesign gives you an opportunity to reorganise your books and make it much easier for visitors to explore your work.
Your writing career has changed
Perhaps you’ve moved from self-publishing to working with a publisher.
Maybe you’ve started writing in another genre.
Perhaps you’ve begun giving talks or attending literary festivals.
Your website should reflect where you are now, rather than where you were when it was first created.
Your website isn’t mobile-friendly
This is a particularly important reason to consider a redesign.
Your website needs to work properly on phones and tablets as well as desktop computers.
If visitors have to pinch and zoom to read your book descriptions, or the menus are difficult to use on a phone, it’s time for an update.
You find it difficult to update
Perhaps you have to contact your original designer every time you want to change a sentence or add a book.
That isn’t necessarily a problem if your designer provides an editing service that suits you.
But if the system is complicated, unsupported or no longer available, a redesign can make managing your website much easier.
Do I have to start again?
Not necessarily.
If your website is built using WordPress, it may be possible to retain much of your existing content while creating a completely new design.
Your:
- Pages
- Blog posts
- Images
- Book information
- Categories
- Authors’ biographies
can potentially be transferred into a new WordPress design.
This is one of the advantages of using WordPress.
The design and the content are not necessarily inseparable. A new theme or design can be introduced while much of the underlying content remains intact.
What if my website was built using Wix or Squarespace?
This can be slightly different.
Website builders such as Wix and Squarespace have their own systems, and transferring an entire website to another platform isn’t always straightforward.
However, your content isn’t necessarily lost.
Your text, photographs, book descriptions and other useful material can usually be copied or exported and used when creating the new website.
If you’re moving to WordPress, the new designer can use this opportunity to create a website that’s more flexible and easier to develop in the future.
The important thing is to establish what can be transferred before anything is cancelled or deleted.
Can I keep my domain name?
Yes.
Your domain name belongs with you, not with the design of your website.
For example, if your website is:
you can normally continue using the same domain when the website is redesigned.
This is important because changing your website doesn’t necessarily mean changing your online identity.
Your existing readers can continue using the same address.
Your printed books, business cards and social media profiles don’t suddenly become obsolete.
What about my Google rankings?
This is an important question.
A redesign doesn’t automatically mean losing your Google rankings.
However, problems can arise if a redesign changes or removes important pages, changes URLs or deletes useful content without proper planning.
This is why an experienced web designer should consider SEO as part of the redesign.
Where possible, existing URLs should be retained.
If URLs need to change, appropriate redirects should be put in place so that visitors and search engines can find the new pages.
Your designer should also check the website after launch to make sure that important pages remain accessible to search engines.
A redesign can actually improve your search visibility
A redesign is an opportunity to fix problems that may have accumulated over the years.
For example, you could:
- Improve page structure
- Rewrite outdated content
- Add descriptive page titles
- Improve headings
- Add internal links
- Improve mobile usability
- Compress large images
- Remove obsolete pages
- Create individual pages for your books
- Add useful articles to your blog
The aim isn’t to redesign the site for Google.
The aim is to create a better website for your readers, while ensuring that search engines can understand and access it properly.
What about AI search?
A redesign is also an opportunity to make your website easier for AI search systems to understand.
People increasingly ask AI assistants questions such as:
“Can you recommend a British crime novelist?”
or:
“Who writes historical fiction set in Cornwall?”
Your website should make it very clear who you are, what you write and what your books are about.
That means providing useful information rather than simply relying on photographs of book covers.
Individual book pages, a clear biography and useful blog articles can all help establish the subject matter and expertise associated with your website.
There is no magic “AI optimisation” button. The best approach is to create a clear, useful website that answers the questions your readers are asking.
Should I change everything?
Probably not.
One of the advantages of a redesign is that you can decide what to keep and what to change.
Some things may already work perfectly well.
For example, you may have:
- Excellent book descriptions
- A good author biography
- Useful blog articles
- Valuable photographs
- Positive reviews
- Years of accumulated content
There’s no reason to throw away good material simply because the website is being redesigned.
A good redesign should improve what’s already there rather than automatically replacing everything.
A website redesign is a good opportunity for a tidy-up
Websites tend to accumulate content.
You might have pages about books you no longer promote, old events, outdated news and links to websites that no longer exist.
A redesign gives you an opportunity to ask:
Does this still need to be here?
You can remove:
- Old announcements
- Expired events
- Duplicate pages
- Outdated information
- Broken links
- Content that no longer represents you
This can make the new website considerably easier to navigate.
What happens during a redesign?
Every project is different, but the process will often involve:
1. Reviewing your existing website
The designer should look at what you already have and identify what should be retained, changed or removed.
2. Planning the new structure
You decide what pages you need and how visitors will navigate between them.
3. Agreeing the design
This is where you consider the appearance, layout, fonts, imagery and overall feel of the new website.
4. Transferring the content
Useful content from the old website can be moved into the new structure.
5. Building the new website
The new design is developed and the content added.
6. Testing
The website should be tested on different screen sizes and browsers, and important links and forms should be checked.
7. Launching
Once everything is ready, the new website replaces the old one.
Ideally, visitors shouldn’t notice anything other than the fact that your website looks considerably better.
What if my current web designer is retiring?
This is actually quite a common reason for a redesign.
If your web designer is retiring, don’t panic.
You don’t necessarily need to keep the existing design simply because the person who created it is no longer available.
An experienced WordPress designer can assess the existing website, establish what can be retained and create a new website around the content you already have.
If you’re moving to a new designer, it’s important to arrange the transition carefully.
Don’t cancel your existing hosting or domain arrangements until the new designer has established what needs to be transferred.
How much does a redesign cost?
There isn’t a single answer.
It depends on:
- The size of your existing website
- How much content needs transferring
- Whether the design is being completely changed
- Whether new functionality is required
- Whether the website needs restructuring
- Whether SEO work is required
- Whether you’re moving to a new platform
A small author website with a few pages may require relatively little work.
A website containing years of blog posts, dozens of books and extensive additional content will require more time.
Ask your designer to explain what is included in the quotation so that you’re comparing like with like.
Do I need to provide all the content again?
Not necessarily.
If your existing website contains good content, much of it may be reusable.
However, a redesign is an excellent opportunity to review your text.
You may discover that your biography needs updating, your book descriptions could be improved or your homepage no longer reflects your current writing career.
Think of the redesign as an opportunity to edit as well as redesign.
Should I make the website editable myself?
This is something worth discussing with your designer.
If your website is built using WordPress, you can have a website that allows you to make changes yourself.
You might want to:
- Add a new book
- Publish a blog article
- Update your biography
- Add an event
- Change a photograph
Alternatively, you may prefer your designer to make changes for you.
There is no right answer.
Some authors enjoy managing their own website. Others would rather spend their time writing.
A good web designer should be able to provide an arrangement that suits you.
Don’t forget about hosting and maintenance
A redesign isn’t just about appearance.
Your new website will need reliable hosting and ongoing maintenance.
If you’re moving to a new designer, find out:
- Where the website will be hosted
- Who manages the hosting
- Who provides backups
- Who handles WordPress updates
- Who deals with security
- Who you contact if something goes wrong
At Bookwebs, we provide hosting for the WordPress websites we manage. This allows us to understand the hosting environment as well as the website itself and deal with technical problems without having to involve a separate hosting company.
You don’t have to wait until your website is completely broken
One of the worst times to redesign your website is when it has already become a major problem.
If your designer has retired, your software is no longer supported and your website is failing, you have fewer options and less time to plan.
A better approach is to start thinking about a redesign when you notice that your website is becoming difficult to manage or no longer represents your career.
You can then plan the project properly rather than reacting to an emergency.
Final thoughts
So, can you have your author website redesigned?
Absolutely.
And in many cases, you don’t need to start from zero.
A good redesign can preserve the content you’ve spent years creating while giving your website a modern appearance, better structure and improved functionality.
It can also be an opportunity to make your website easier for readers to use, easier for you to manage and easier for search engines and AI systems to understand.
Your website should reflect the author you are today, not necessarily the author you were when the website was first created.
If your books, career and audience have developed, it may be time for your website to develop with them.
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Thinking about redesigning your author website?
At Bookwebs, we regularly redesign existing author websites as well as creating new ones from scratch.
We’ve been designing and supporting WordPress websites for authors and publishing professionals since 2006. If your existing website looks dated, has become difficult to manage or no longer reflects your writing career, we can review what you already have and advise you on the best way forward.
We can preserve useful existing content, redesign the website, provide hosting and continue to manage and support it after launch.
Find out more about Bookwebs author website design and redesign services.