Is it important for bloggers and authors using WordPress to be connected with their readers? Should that connection be based on bloggers’ trustworthiness and authenticity? The answer is yes! How could we reach that connection and maintain it? The answer is simple, by using author boxes.
What are the author boxes?
At the end of an article or a post, there is a section that can be used to display information about the content author. In other words, readers can learn not only about the content but about the author as well.
There is a lot of benefits author boxes provide; however, we decided to list the top 10:
10 Benefits of Having Author Boxes:
- Author boxes promote authors and their social media pages.
- Help the readers, other bloggers, and followers to get to know the author of the content they are reading.
- Author boxes help writers to build their reputation and gain the trust of the readers in everything they write.
- Information provided about the author is perceived by readers in a way that they see the author as an expert writer of the articles or posts presented.
- This tool increases the credibility of all publications.
- It demonstrates confidence! The author box will separate an author from all the others and show that he or she is not afraid to stand behind what they wrote.
- More traffic – authors will have more visitors, readers, and hence, followers. An author can include a list of all publications in the author box.
- Having a great and colorful bio written in the author’s box increases the clicking rate, which increases the likelihood of visitors going through the bio and all the content presented.
- Other authors can be cited in an author’s box. In case there was more than one author, all of them can be listed in the author box. This way, the author can promote other authors and give them credit.
- Become a go-to person – if an author is perceived as an expert in a certain niche, the author will be an important figure when it comes to relevant information about a product or a service. Such an author will become a go-to person for other bloggers, readers, and even the media.
How to create an author box?
It is not too complicated to create an author box. It can be done manually; however, it requires some knowledge in coding, mostly PHP, since HTML is not recommended. The safest and most practical way to create an author box is to use the Simple Author Box plugin.
What is the Simple Author Box plugin, and what are its features?
This easy-to-install plugin enables an author to have an author box at the end of every article or post. It shows the name of the author, its gravatar, and the description of the author, which altogether creates the author’s biography.
An amazing feature of this tool is that it enables the authors to have social icons in the author box, as it offers over 30 social profile fields on the user profile screen.
For authors who want to change the design, this tool is very useful since it is fully customizable. An author can change the style, color, text, and size!
Besides looks, this tool has a very practical side since it inserts the author box automatically at the end of every post or article. It also offers an option to manually insert the author box on the template file, and more importantly, it has RTL and AMP support. Not only that, it’s great for guest posts and authors; it looks nice on mobile phones and tablets, as well as on desktops and laptops.
Conclusion
It is of great importance for authors to attract the right audience and to keep that connection going. By using author boxes, authors are able to show their work, knowledge, and character to the wider audience, fellow authors, and media in order for them to become more connected and more successful.