This is a guest post by Georgie Peru, a Content Contributor for UKWebHostReview on the best DIY website themes to build your writer website. Please find her full bio at the bottom of this post.
More than ever, budding writers are searching for the best website themes to build their portfolio and author websites.
Website builders like Wix, Squarespace, and even CMS platforms like WordPress, are a great way for writers to build their own websites, without much or any coding knowledge.
DIY builders are appealing for many reasons: they’re easy to use, there’s plenty of templates and themes to work with, and most importantly, most website builders offer a free plan or are incredibly good value for money.
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. These links are marked with an asterisk.
What Should Writers Look for in a Website Theme?
Whether you’re using Wix, WordPress, or another DIY website builder, you’re going to be faced with thousands of themes to choose from. This can feel pretty overwhelming, and it can often take hours to find the best option for your writer website.
While it can be tempting to choose a theme for its popularity or features, it’s important you consider your requirements:
- SEO: If you want your website to be found organically on the internet through search engine results, you’ll want it to be well-optimized for SEO. Whilst you can do a lot to increase your SEO outside of your theme, the theme is important too. Themes that are packed full of unnecessary features and plugins can cause page speed loading issues, causing your website to perform poorly, decreasing your SEO. A good theme will offer SEO-optimization built-in.
- Flexibility: A professional author website theme should offer plenty of flexibility when it comes to adding or removing elements and features. For example, you should be able to easily edit text, add new sections of text, images, contact forms, etc. A great theme will offer documentation and support (themes from ThemeForest tend to come with 6 months of support included for free).
- Responsive: It’s estimated that over 5 billion people own a smartphone, which is the main reason why your theme should be responsive and mobile-friendly. If one of your website visitors lands on your website on a mobile device and finds it isn’t responsive, they’ll likely leave and never return, which means you’ll miss out on a potential customer.
- eCommerce: If you plan to sell books (including eBooks or guides), writing workshops, courses, consulting, or any other offerings to support your writing business, it’s essential your website theme is fit for purpose. Your theme should support integrations with PayPal or other payment providers, or if you’re using WordPress, it should support a plugin like WooCommerce.
The Best Website Themes for Writers
If you’ve been looking for the best DIY theme for your writer website, your search can end here! We’ve picked the best themes on the market, so you can make a quicker decision and get started creating your professional website.
1. Divi
Divi is one of the most popular WordPress themes around. Elegant Themes* have dubbed it “the ultimate WordPress page builder”.
Whilst WordPress is an incredibly powerful platform from which you can build beautiful websites, it can be tricky to get the hang of at the start. Especially if you have no prior coding knowledge.
Divi allows beginners to enjoy creating a 100% DIY website with ease. It’s an entire website builder platform, allowing you to enjoy WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editing with cool features like sliders, blogs, galleries, and lots more.
Divi has over 800+ pre-made website designs for free, as well as royalty-free photos you can use to start building your writer website.
2. Author Pro
Author Pro is a WordPress theme specifically designed for writers and authors. It has a simple design that oozes professionalism while still being attractively modern.
The theme is built on the Genesis Framework, powered by StudioPress, which means it’s suitable for both beginners and advanced users.
Author Pro does come at a price… $99.95 to be exact. However, this includes the Genesis Framework package and comes full of features suitable for authors and writers.
You’ll be able to create a book library on your website, sell your creations online, customize your website, and ensure it’s mobile-responsive.
3. Ultra
Ultra theme is a powerful WordPress theme, that makes it incredibly easy to create your very own writer website. The real beauty of Ultra is that it comes packed full of pre-made design skins for plenty of industries, including writers.
This makes it super-fast to create your website, whilst giving you the option to fully customize it if you wish.
If you’re not particularly familiar with WordPress, Ultra can help you find your feet. The 1-click import function makes it simple to switch up your design, as well as edit the content on your website.
It’s also WooCommerce compatible meaning you can sell plenty of novels, eBooks, or even swag to your eager fans.
4. Montauk
If creating a beautiful website is a top priority for you, Montauk is the stunning SquareSpace theme you’re after.
While it’s tailored more towards artists, this theme is incredibly versatile and offers you a place to showcase your latest writing works, as well as blog functionality to keep your readers engaged.
This theme is perfect for a writer’s portfolio because it offers modern-designs that scream creativity.
It’s mobile-responsive too, which means your readers can enjoy your writer website in all its glory on desktop, mobile, or tablet.
5. Hestia Pro
Hestia Pro is a one-page WordPress theme, suitable for creating a brilliant one-page site to highlight you, or a specific book or series.
If you enjoy a bit of website DIY, Hestia Pro offers a sleek design, customizability, and page builder compatibility.
If that’s not enough, Hestia Pro is WooCommerce ready, offers advanced blogging options, all while being optimized for speed and performance.
You can let your creativity come to life by using Elementor, or another page builder of your choice.
Conclusion
There is a world of awesome DIY website themes out there capable of helping you create an impactful and beautiful writer website.
Using a website builder or CMS platform like WordPress means you can enjoy endless possibilities as well as powerful website features.
I hope this list of the best themes has helped you continue your creative journey online.
Author bio: Georgie Peru is a Content Contributor for UKWebHostReview. She is passionate about sharing her enthusiasm for technology through her content writing work, with a mission to help others learn and understand what makes the digital world so successful.
