Jemma Pollari: Design
author websites and email marketing
Turn your author website into a marketing machine
Having an online prescence as an author is critical. Whether you are aspiring, emerging or established, your website is the hub of your online marketing. Find potential readers for your books, grow your existing audience, and create a community of fans around your work: your author website is key to it all.
I help busy authors and writers get online. From buiding an author website, to undertanding email marketing, to training on how you can get found, grow your readership and more: I demystify the process and prioritise helping you feel confident growing your own author business.
I have helped authors of children’s picture books, military thrillers, science fiction, contemporary romance, fantasy and more get online. I can help you, too.
10% discount for QWC members
Current members of Queensland Writers Centre receive a VIP discount on my services. Sign up for membership here.
How I can help
Full service website build
Need an author website? I provide full-service website builds to get you online. Cut the decision fatigue and overwhelm and let me take care of the technical things.
I can work with your existing website platform, help you migrate to a new platform, refresh and update existing sites, as well as “zero-to-everything” full builds.
Get found by new readers
Your website should help you find new readers. It’s great to have visits from people who already know about you. But what about getting found by readers who have never heard of you?
I can help you plan and action a strategy to get found by more readers. It’s a simple, repeatable process, and I can train you to do it yourself, or provide full service to do it for you.
Supporting you to DIY your website
It’s my priority to empower you to take charge of your author journey online. I can train you how to:
- Communicate with your ideal reader, irrisitably
- Create a website
- Edit your website
- Use email marketing
- Use social media
- Take better photos of yourself
- … and more.
Ongoing help with your website and email marketing
Busy with writing deadlines and appearances? I am ready to be delegated to! I can help with ongoing blog and SEO work on your website, email marketing and more. All those jobs that you put off because they’re too irritating? Send them my way.
Graphic design and photography
Lead magnets, ePubs of your giveaway short story, or full eBooks: I can create the digital resources to support your online adventures as an author.
I can also provide author photograpy. Headshots, personal branding photography for your website and social media, and more.
For more details on my branding and photography services, go here.
Full-service website build
Author website creation
Clear and consistent web design in an environment you’ll find easy to use. I provide full builds of authors websites from basic to elaborate.
- Guidance on choosing between self-hosted or hosted platforms.
- Website architecture and construction.
- Copywriting, SEO and analytics, to get your website found.
- Moving website from one platform to another.
- Splitting websites and combining websites.
Author email marketing
Email marketing is core to building an online audience for your writing. No matter your preferred platform, I can help you do this strategically, efficiently and effectively. Let’s get you found by new readers and build a community of fans.
Training to keep going
Guidance from start to finish on how to use your online presence. Cut the overwhelm of where to start, and make sure your efforts are pushing you in the right direction.
- Website back-end training.
- Blogging training.
- Social media training.
Author website pricing
All work begins with a discovery consultation. Web design starts at $110 an hour and package rates are available.
DIY or done for you
I prioritise setting you up to feel confident operating your finished website. Wherever you’re at, whatever you’ve got already, I work with you to get it done.
Blogging and updating not your thing? That’s fine too. I offer on-going support on a one-off or recurring basis so that you can focus on what you do best, and let me take care of the rest.
Portfolio
Michelle Wilson: Author
Michelle Wilson is a children’s author with beautiful books on mindfulness and family, and her website embodies this vibe for parents, and importantly, primary school teachers. As well as a full new website build we did brand scripting to clarify her key offering: classroom workshops.
Asher Zands: Author
Asher Zands is an author of military thrillers, and we have created a unique bespoke website to showcase the series and grow an audience with email marketing.
Laree Chapman: Author
Laree Chapman is an author working in speculative fiction as well as historical fiction and crime. We have created a simple, efficient website for Laree to build her audience with strategic blog posts, perfect for an emerging author.
The Slow Reader Society with Eclecta Perennial
With brandscripting and email marketing training, Cathryn deVries has focused her audience-growing tool into a community-building magnet: The Slow Reader Society. Designed to align with the ideal audience of her novels (co-written with Emalyn deVries), the newsletter is an effective tool to grow a potential readership.
Get found by new readers
Get found online
Your website should help you find new readers. It’s lovely to get website visits from people who already know about you – i.e. people who have typed your website address into their search bar, and found you. But what about people who have never heard of you?
I can help you plan and action an online marketing strategy to get found by people who have never heard of you, or your book. Its simple and repeatable – all it takes is the time to do it. No ad budget required.
(Kindly!) capture your readers
When someone comes to your website, but isn’t ready to buy your book, what happens next? They either leave, and forget about you… or you capture them! (Kindly, of course. Not in a cage, or anything.)
I can help you do this, so that you get permission to keep talking to those “I’m interested, but not yet ready to buy,” visitors. When they’re ready, you’ll be there, politely reminding them that you – and your book – exist.
DIY or delegate
You can try and do “all the things!” online, but you don’t have to. I’ll help you be strategic about what you are doing online, so your efferts are pushing you forward in the right direction.
I can train you to action your plan to get found by new readers, or you can delegte to me. The choice is yours.
What are the steps?
First we get your website found
The first step to finding new readers is making your website a place that answers questions for your potential readers. It’s the same for fiction and non-fiction authors.
I’ll help you make a plan that you’ll find fun and interesting to action, so you can attract your ideal reader.
We entice your readers to stay
Next, we get permission to keep talking to your website visitors. We put in place an irrisistable author offer. This positions you as a guide in your reader’s journey to lead them to the kind of satisfying reading experience they are searching for.
Finally, we expand your reach
We action a repeatable series of steps to keep attracting new readers to your website, and over time your audience grows. It’s a process used by businesses small and large world-wide, and it work for authors too.
Supporting you to DIY your website
Training to help you DIY
I am a registered teacher with a Master of Education, and I love to help people help themselves. I can train you in those tricky website tasks that have been holding you back.
Hybrid approach
Not sure that you want to do it all youself? We can do a DIY hybrid, where I get some tasks done for you, and then you take over with the parts you feel comfortable with.
Feel confident in what to do
Stop the overwhelm of “what should I do?” and let me help you plan a online marketing plan that will:
- Suit your skills and interests.
- Be on the platforms you like using.
- Meet your budget – both free time and investment!
- Be effective at growing an audience.
Work at your pace
It’s easy to feel like having success as an online author is a race – and one that’s impossible to win. Social media, websites, blogging, email newsletters, fan sites, lead magnets: who has that kind of time in the day, plus somehow writing your next book?!
I’m here to support you at working at your pace. This is your writing career. I can crack the whip when that helps you – but we always work within the contstraints of the rest of your life.
FAQ
Can you work with me remotely?
Yes. I have clients from Melbourne to Bundaberg, and can work with you via Zoom, phone, emails, and/or customised video tutorials.
I'm terrible at technology. Will I be able to do this?
I have worke with dozens of creatives whose forte is being creative, not using computers. I work with you at your pace, so that you feel confident doing what you need to do online.
Can we work with you in a group?
Absolutely. I have run workshops for writers groups and festivals to get everyone up to spe fast on getting online and starting to build an audience. I can customise a workshop or program for your group’s needs.
What platform do you use for websites?
I build self-hosted websites powered by WordPress, using Divi as the software to create the site.
I can also work with your existing website and have experience building websites powered by:
- WordPress.com (this is the “hosted” version of WordPress, versus the open source “self-hosted” version that powers most of the internet)
- Shopify
- Squarespace
- Wix
- … and more. There’s many, many fish in the sea of hosted website builders 🙂
If you haven’t got a site yet, a self-hosted website is often economial over the long-term. Plus, when you work with me, you get access to the many plugins and tools that I have already a developer licence for! This can add functionality to your site that hosted website platforms will charge a lot extra for.
Not sure what I mean by self-hosted or hosted websites? Don’t worry. I’ll help you choose the best option for your goals.
I already have a website. Can you still help?
Definitely. I can help you improve your existing website and most (if not all) of the strategies I use to grow your audeince will be actionable regardless of what platform you’ve used to build your website.
Ongoing support with websites and marketing
Delegate to me
I’m here to help with whatever jobs you put off because they’re too fiddly and irritating. I can help with:
- Producing and sending email newsletters.
- Writng and publishing blog content.
- SEO optimising your blog posts.
- Batch-produce content.
… And more.
Ongoing training
Let’s work together to keep you on trak with your goals. I can help over time with regular meetings, guidance, and training to grow your capabilities as a modern author.
Level up your author offering
Have a vision for what’s next in your author repertoire? I can help with advanced websites like membership sites, online courses and more. I’ll guide you through the process to help you make the best (and most economical!) choice of platforms, tools, and more.
Advanced options
Create an online shop
Sell your books direct, or other supporting rpdocuts. I can help set up a shop on your website so you can provide all the merch your audience craves.
Membership site creation
Build an exclusive community for your readers and turn your website into a membership site (like Patreon or Ko-fi) where you can restrict content behind a paywall. All on your own website.
Online course creation
Turn your expertise into an online course for your audience. I can help set up paywalled sites, provide training on recording and preparing content, and more.
Testimonials
As an author who is building a fast-growing and successful writing career as a sidequest to my full time teaching role, it can be hard to find time to fit it all in. And that’s an extreme understatement!
One job I’ve been meaning to attack is establishing a good website with a dedicated domain name. I recently employed the services of the lovely Jemma Pollari to help with this.
I didn’t have a big budget to play with, and Jemma flexed a brilliant and unique plan for me. She also gives discounts to members of Queensland Writers’ Centre.
When I came to Jemma, I just wanted to optimise the searchability of my website, but what I didn’t realise was that I didn’t really know WHY people would search for me in the first place; what problem of theirs I was solving. Jemma helped me not only identify those things, but workshopped all the elements needed to communicate that to people – and not just on my website! I also gained a new direction to take my author newsletter in, and enthusiasm for actually doing it! Jemma is friendly, and knows her stuff inside out. When my brain was fried, hers kept churning out helpful stuff! I feel much more confident heading forward now that I have a consistent and integrated message to share.
Your author website: enquire now
Start the journey
Step 1. Send me the info about your project by completing the form. I’ll respond as soon as I can.
Step 2. All work begins with your discovery consultation. This is a one-on-one session to customise what you need for your brand, your clients and your core business.
Step 3. At your consult we’ll book in whatever you need: training, websiote build, branding, photography. You’ll leave the consultation with a clear action plan to go forward.