How effective is your author website?

Laurie at http://www.bittenbyparanormalromance.com/ came up with the idea to rate author websites on functionality. As reviewers we visit author sites daily to get information then send our readers to these sites. An author site is a critical resource for new and loyal followers. The first thing a reader does when they hear about an author is stick the name into a search engine. What comes up? Hopefully your site! Now what kind of information is that reader going to find?

As part of the Romance Bloggers Group I plan on visiting author sites with a checklist of things I feel all author sites should have to be reader friendly. Pretty graphics, fancy fonts and smexy pictures won’t sway me, this is about information (okay, smexy beast pictures will get you a special mention <G>)

Here is the checklist I will use at each site:

Did the site come up when the author’s name was searched in Google? Is the site easy to navigate? 
Does the author offer bio information? 
Is there a way to contact the author? 
Does the author offer a newsletter? 
Does the author have a blog and can you access it easily from the site? 
Is the site up to date with current released books? 
Book cover and blurb by each book? 
Buy link for each released book? 
Does the author have their series in order and is it easy to understand? 
Is there a printable book list? 
Does the author offer any book excerpts or free chapters? 
Does the author have upcoming events, signings, and releases? 
Is the blog updated? 

Rating for the authors site: Overall review of the author’s website: 
Things I like and or disliked about the site: 
Any other remarks: 

If you have any suggestions for something I might have missed let me know and I will add it to my checklist. Keep an eye out for my first website review: Dani Harper.

Feature sponsored by Romance Book Bloggers group