When to Know It’s Time to Change Your Author Website Platform
Choosing the right author website platform is like choosing the right shoes: what fit you perfectly a year ago might now be pinching your toes. And just like shoes, your website needs to support where you're going—not just where you've been.
If you’re wondering whether your current platform (like Carrd, Wix, WordPress.com, or even an older Squarespace site) is still serving you, here are 6 clear signs it might be time for an upgrade.
1. You’re Running Out of Space
Your platform might have been perfect when you needed a simple homepage and a contact form. But now?
You have multiple books to showcase
You want a Speaker Page or Media Kit
You need an Events listing or online store
You’d like a blog to share content regularly
If your current setup feels cramped or clunky when you try to expand, it's a sign you’ve outgrown it. For example, a few of my clients, who want only a very simple website, get started on Carrd. But this is hard to expand beyond a few pages, and really isn’t suitable for blogging.
Related: Why we moved Colleen’s author website from Carrd to Squarespace
2. You're Getting Serious About SEO
Search engines rely on structure, meta data, and clarity to index your content—and not all platforms handle this equally well. If you're:
Trying to grow organic traffic
Publishing blog content regularly
Wanting your book titles or speaking services to rank well
…it’s time for a platform that offers built-in SEO tools, automatic sitemaps, and the ability to configure important page-level settings.
Most modern tools do offer good SEO options these days — for example, here’s how Squarespace makes life easier for you — but as far as I know, on WordPress you’ll still need a plugin (possibly a premium plugin) to get access to the settings and insights you need.
Having said this, if you already have some SEO traction with your existing website, be sure to consider the implications before you migrate (or re-build) your website using another tool. I had a recent conversation with an author who was fed up with WordPress and was tempted to move to Squarespace, and I recommended she pause before taking on the work of migrating (and tidying) her dozens of blog posts.
Related: Best SEO tools for beginners
3. You’re Ready to Sell Direct
Are you thinking of offering:
Signed copies of your book?
Digital downloads or courses?
Services like coaching or workshops?
If your current platform doesn’t support e-commerce, or it’s clunky to set up payments and product pages, upgrading to a more flexible system (like Squarespace or Shopify) will make life a lot easier.
In general, I tell people that if the primary purpose of your business is an online shop, then Shopify is well worth a look. However, most authors, including those selling related coaching or writing services, will be fine on Squarespace.
4. You Want to Look More Professional
A DIY author site might have been fine when you were testing the waters. But as your readership grows, your website becomes your calling card. It should match your professionalism in:
Design and layout
Ease of navigation
Showcasing all of your books (and where readers can buy them)
Encouraging readers to join your email list
Mobile responsiveness (so it looks great on phones too)
Quality of images and photos
After all, there’s no point in writing an amazing book but then sending readers to a nasty website.
Sometimes the platform is holding you back from the level of polish you (and your audience) now expect. This comes up particularly if your original author website was created many years ago and/or you’re stuck using an old WordPress theme.
However, more usually I find that it’s your DIY skills, rather than the tool itself, that are the limiting factor.
Related: You might like to request my free resources, including a video training with 21 DIY website mistakes, to get some tips and inspiration.
Case study interview: Nell Wulfhart, coach, author, and podcaster
"If you think you need a new website … you're way past the point of needing it"
5. You Dread Making Changes
If updating your website feels like:
Digging through clunky settings
Googling "how to change button color"
Worrying you'll break something
Actually breaking something!
then of course this is a red flag. The right platform will empower you to make simple updates without stress. Your energy should go toward your writing, your readers, and your author business—not fighting your tech.
And if you can’t even make a simple change without paying your website designer to do it for you, that could mean the tool has outlived its usefulness.
6. Your Website Doesn’t Reflect Who You Are Now
Your website is more than a page on the internet. It's your digital home. If it still looks like it belongs to the 2015 version of you—not the author, speaker, or entrepreneur you’ve become—it’s time for a refresh.
Ready for a Better Fit?
A platform upgrade doesn’t mean starting from scratch. With the right guidance, we can carry over what’s working and build a foundation that’s flexible, future-friendly, and far more fun to manage.
That said, website migrations are usually non-trivial, so be sure to get advice and dig into your goals as an author, before making a big leap.
Related: Tips for your author website migration
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Want to talk it through?
Schedule an Author Website Clarity Call with me for an in-depth, objective discussion to help you decide if it’s time for a change—and what platform might fit you best now.
Popular resources for choosing the right author website tool
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This article contains affiliate some links for tools that I know and trust. If you make a purchase, you don’t pay more, but it’s a friendly way to support my writing.
