“Can I have a Flash movie on my home page? Can my design look like a big desk with clickable graphics? Can I have music?”

Those are just a handful of the questions I’ve been asked when brainstorming a website design with a new client. I could name tons of other examples where clients have seen some cool effects on other sites and are wondering if they could do the same. Some of it’s technically advanced, other stuff is simple, but what all of these features have in common is that they’re visually or functionally impressive.

Every time I’m asked about these things, I groan.

Don’t get me wrong. I love cool visual tricks as much as the next web geek. I’ll agree that Flash animations are pretty darned awesome, if only because they’re fairly easy to do with some fantastic results. I think it’s just wonderful that you no longer need the knowledge of a computer programmer to add these features to a website. All of that is great, and if the client insists, I’m more than happy to do it. Except for music. You have to draw the line somewhere.

What usually makes me caution clients against these things is when they’ve given more thought to those neat effects than to the actual content of their sites. A huge part of my job as a Web site designer is teaching and giving advice on more or less everything to do with my clients’ online presence–the technical stuff, the visual design, and yes, the content. I enjoy giving advice, and I don’t charge a dime for it, but there’s only so much I can do. When you visit a site I’ve created, what you’re seeing is my translation of the client’s vision. All too often, that vision didn’t include spending a lot of time and effort on the actual information to be included on the website.

I can’t emphasize enough what a crucial error this is. Most of my clients are authors, and I can pretty successfully advise them on the basic content that an author’s website should contain. Book information, of course. It’s all about the books! Or at least, it should be. Like me, you’ve probably visited some authors’ sites where you had to do an Easter egg hunt for even the tiniest hint of info about the author’s upcoming book. Looking for a complete, printable back list? You might have to click and click and click until finally you spot a microscopic link stuck in the least obvious spot.

How to create a quality website for an author is a continuing learning experience for me, and these days I’m thinking more and more that we need to get back to the basics. In the early days of the Internet, before all those cool special effects, the focus was on the content. There was text–sometimes well-organized, sometimes not, but usually lots of it. Information that made it worthwhile to visit that site.

I’d love it if more of my clients gave more thought to their content. Clients who know that when it comes to their books, there’s no such thing as too much information. You need the basics: the publishing details, the blurb, the reviews, and please don’t forget the excerpt! But why stop there? The possibilities are endless. Behind the scenes notes. Research notes (you know, the stuff that you learned but still couldn’t actually use in the book?). Images, but with awareness of copyright limitations. Original, unique content that can’t be found elsewhere on the Internet is key. The author’s website is often the only place readers can find info about a series of books, and it’s always the most convenient place to find it. This is still information that quite a few authors don’t include on their sites, much to their readers’ frustration.

It’s entirely possible to have a visually stunning website with tons of meaty content. The designer will take care of the visual part, but the content? That’s up to the author to provide. Writers are creatively minded people who should have no problem coming up with interesting and compelling content that will make visiting their websites a fun and informational experience.

To illustrate what I mean, I’d like to spotlight a handful of my clients that have some great, unique content on their sites:

Elizabeth Hoyt has lots of articles with tidbits she ran across during her research as well as some fun essays related to her books on her Extras page. She also has a special page for booksellers and librarians and one for book clubs.

Sydney Croft’s site has an entire area devoted to more information about the world in the ACRO series, including a page with profiles of the main characters in the series. This is all stuff that can only be found on Sydney’s website.

Dara Girard also has a special section on her website, this one focusing on her wealth of information for writers, including downloadable articles and lots of useful links.

Larissa Ione shares one of her non-writing related passions with her Bestiary section: information about animals and pets, including debunking some animal myths and tons of information about feline diabetes.

And finally, perhaps some of the coolest and most uniqe content you can find on Julia Holden’s website in the Julia’s Paris section. Here you can get virtual tours of Paris with images and videos lined up next to the snippets from Julia’s books that those locations inspired.

Now, I’ve scratched only the surface of my opinions on the topic of content. But what about you? Is there information you feel is sorely missing from a lot of authors’ sites? And let’s give kudos where it’s due: tell me about authors’ sites that you think provide a lot of fabulous content. I’d love to hear what you think!

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This article was originally posted on Romancing the Blog.