1001 - The website lives.....

Today, I am chuffed to tell you that the website has clocked up 1001 visitors from all over the globe. I am sure that to many this is insignificant, some probably get that on a weekly or even daily basis, but to me this is a huge milestone.

AJWilsonbooks.net has been such an integral part of my life for the last ten months, from inception to actual presence and of course the maintenance. For me it was important to have that web presence, a place where others could almost check out my authenticity. In a world of mistrust, people do give credence to a website, it seems to help them 'feel' that an Author/person has that extra level of legitimacy. It has also worked well as a portal for information and communication.

Building the website was probably the second hardest challenge I faced. I knew nothing about WIX (free website build) and even less about the various tools that came with it. I did however have a good idea of what I wanted the end result to look like. As I stumbled through it's tutorial's my frustrations were based around my own inabilities to understand modern technology. To a teenager this stuff seems to be second nature, but to a 51 year old, not so much. Obviously this led to many hours spent with my old friend Google Search, trying to get an understanding of the 'basics'.

I remember publishing the home page for the very first time, and thinking 'Well, that looks crap' (not Wix's fault) and the painstaking hours spent trying to insert pictures, copying and pasting text, changing fonts, setting links. I started with the Wix free basic package but instead of taking a free domain name with them I just added the domain name that I had purchased separately. All of this pain and difficulty could easily have been avoided by employing an IT or Website person, but these are expensive skill's to hire, and the budget was still fixed at zero! Also, in hindsight, despite how problematic I may have found the process it gave (and continues to give) a lot of 'fist pump moments'. That point in time when you overcome what has been perceived as being an impossible obstacle. And, even though the official counter tells me that we have just clocked over the 1000th visitor mark, the website had actually been launched for nearly three months before I even added the counter.

You'll notice as well that I have launched this 'Blog site' independent of the website. Some would say that this is a little silly as had I launched the blog as part of my website then the traffic would have multiplied considerably, and some may be right. I tried that, but despite my absolute best efforts and a whole host of profanities, I just couldn't get it to work.

ajwilsonbooks.net is a communication media, it allows the interested visitor to have a sneak preview of some of the main characters from 'Russian Redemption', to learn a little about me and why I wrote 'Russian Redemption' and also what other people think of the book in the form of a 'Reviews' page. All of which is important information for someone that is contemplating purchasing my novel. But it is much more than that, it allows 'would be' readers to see if they like me as a person; strangely this is a key factor in the book buying thought process especially when an Author is starting out and has no reputation. Having spent a fair few hours looking at other reviews for other books it seems that a lot of readers look for a reason to buy your book, a reason that they can then use to justify the purchase should the book prove to be a waste of money - "I only bought it because he/she was from my home town" or "I bought it because he/she was a nurse like me.." and so on. Believe it or not a reader wants to feel a connection with the Author, no matter how small, a little 'feel good factor'. It may not be the same as an Author gains a reputation, I don't know, I'm a long way from there.

So, as ajwilsonbooks.net now marches on, soaring (?) towards it's next milestone (1500 visitors) I look back over the experience and think 'Yup, the boy did ok' but there is still a long way to go; a website is a multifaceted tool of trade that requires nurturing and adapting if it is reach it's full potential.

I always look for feedback so please do drop by the website and let me know your thoughts, or suggestions for that matter, you can use the contact page on the site or email me direct at ajwilsonbooks@gmail.com

many thanks