There is a world of options when it comes to relevant content to put on your website.  Remember the audience and their goals:  form an impression and connect with you.

Start with the basics:

About You – Your site should include a few paragraphs about you, how you started writing, and what you write.  If you include a photo on this page, it should be a professional, nice one.  Again, professional doesn’t imply you paid to have it taken. It means you look professional in it.

Work/Books/WIPs –Your website should give a snapshot of what you’re working on.  Include working titles, genre, word count.  Whether or not you include blurbs and summaries of your WIPs is up to your comfort zone (and for a look at both sides of this, see this post (http://jeannieruesch.com/wordpress/?p=2940).  List content finals or wins.  List any articles you’ve published or other related work.

Contact Information – Be sure that there is an easy way to contact you on your site.  Include an email address or a contact form.  And if you’re active on social networks, include links to those as well – and include them prominently.  These are actionable links by your visitors and ways you can connect more personally with them.  Make it easy for someone to find you.

And make your site personal by adding other content:

With a focus on your writing, you could embellish your sites with facts, tidbits or interesting stories.

• Include fun research facts you’ve discovered.  Chances are if you found it different or interesting, someone else will too.
• Make playlists of songs that inspired you while writing or that match the tone and emotion of your stories, like you’ll find on Adrienne’s site (http://adriennegiordano.com/bookshelf/).
• Pick out elements that are highlighted in your book – recipes, pets, causes, an historical era, whatever you can pull from your site, and build a page or section of your site around that.

And before you say, “I don’t know what would be interesting enough…”—think again.  Yes, you do.  Do you write sassy, strong heroines?  Make a section of your site about strong women you admire. Do you write alpha males? Focus a section of your site on alpha males in the world – perhaps with a focus on the careers of your characters.  Dig into your stories and find what makes them unique, find what inspires you within them and build that into your website.  It offers even more compelling ways to connect with you as a writer.

And don’t underestimate connecting as a person.  Even two people who have nothing in common can talk for hours about a favorite TV show or movie.  Put some personal touches on the site:

• Try a list of your favorite things: books, music, television shows, and movies.  When considering “favorites” to include, look for things that connect people, rather than separate them.  Unless it’s part of your platform, staying away from politics and religion is always a good idea.
• Include links.  It’s wonderful for both networking with others and your search engine results.  Offering a links page to helpful resources, other authors, chapters, research sites, or whatever else you want to focus on offers a chance for those websites to link back.
• Do you have a hobby or additional job that would provide useful information to other writers? By all means, create a page to share your expertise and knowledge.

Ultimately, think outside of the box.  Kathleen Bittner Roth did that by adding an “Unbook trailer” to her site (http://kathleenbittnerroth.com/).  Without a book or need for a book trailer, she found a unique and entertaining way to add content to her site.

To summarize, for the unpublished author, your website is a place to build a bridge between you and your target audience.  For agents and editors, it means presenting yourself professionally.  For other writers and connections within the publishing world, it means offering a common ground.  If you keep that in mind, you can’t go wrong.