Before I created my website - theAdventurousWriter.com - I really struggled with whether it was worth the effort. Plus, I thought it was a little egocentric. “Look at me, everyone! Look what I can do!” It was only after creating my website that I realized how important it is. 

Here are the benefits of creating a website for writers. But first, a writing quip from Barbara Kingsolver. 

“Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer,” said Kingsolver. Click on the book cover for more information about Kingsolver and her bestselling The Poisonwood Bible.

She’s talking about fiction writing, but I think the same could be said about your non-fiction articles, poetry, and blogging. Okay, on to why you as a writer need a website (or, to borrow from Virginia Woolf, “a space of your own”). 

The Benefits of Creating Your Own Website 

1. Your clips are all in one place. This was my main reason for creating my website: so I could put all my print and online articles in one space. This way, editors, publishers, peers, and potential clients can see what I do at a glance. 

2. Your website can convince editors to hire you. A freelance writer’s website is more formal than a blog because it represents your writing skills and accomplishments. If your website is professional and error-free, it could convince an editor or publisher to hire you. 

3. You feel validated as a writer. It made me feel official and professional to carve out my own space on the web. A writer’s website goes a step further than a blog, because it represents who you are and what your professional plans are. 

4. You don’t have to update it daily. Once it’s created, a website is much less work than a blog. If you’re lucky, you’ll update it once a week to reflect your newest assignments and publications (if you’re not lucky, you’ll only need to update it every month - which means you need to hone your freelance writing skills!). 

5. You become more than “just a name.” A writer’s website can be both professional and full of personality, which makes the writer come alive to readers or potential clients. My website has both professional and casual photos of me, some of my favorite inspirational quotations, and links to my blogs. My website is a snapshot of who I am as a writer, which is more than just “Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen.” My website rounds me out a little. 

6. Your writer’s website proves you’re an expert. I can say that I’m a health writer or psychology writer, by my website proves it. It lists all my health and psychology articles, which makes me more credible. 

7. Your website could help people find you. Say I pitched an idea to Oprah Magazine a year ago. Say the editor loved the idea, found a different job at a new magazine, and wants to contact me. Further say that she couldn’t remember my name or access my pitch, but did remember that I pegged myself as “the adventurous writer.” And voila! The editor finds me, offers me a column in her new magazine, and we walk off into the sunset together.