When it comes to reading blogs and articles, most people tend to ignore author boxes (especially if the articles are about tech/finance), but they can be an impeccable tool when it comes to further reader engagement and gaining a reader’s trust.
So what’s an author box?
Well, to put it simply, author boxes are short text boxes at the end of your articles that give a short introduction of your writer to your reader. It’s a sort of a footnote that provides the reader with verification on why they should trust the article this person wrote. This can be especially useful if your website consists of tutorials and opinion pieces.
To keep it a bit more concise, here are some of the main benefits of author boxes.
● Establish authenticity
It’s generally accepted that most people prefer reading articles of writers in whom they believe. After all, seeing that the writer is not only real (the article-writing AI is getting pretty crazy lately) but an expert in the field can prove to be invaluable to the reader.
● Introduce the author
Introducing the author can increase reader engagement and satisfaction as not only will they get their desired information but they will also learn where that information’s coming from. And if you offer active communication through the comment section, it can help readers open up.
● Increases writer traffic
This point is quite simple as the fact of the matter is if the reader enjoys the way your authors write, they’ll be further inclined to check them out. Thus increasing traffic not only for your page but for that writer specifically.
● Content organization becomes easier
Finding and organizing content can be a proper pain sometimes. But if you have named authors, author boxes give you an extra parameter through which you can organize your article, and your readers can find other articles.
How to create an author box
Creating author boxes, just like anything else in web development, requires expert knowledge of coding. Or well, it used to until the Simple Author Box plugin was created.
As is with a lot of other aspects of web development, plugins for author boxes are all the rage these days; after all, why would you create something from scratch when you already have it premade.
Simple Author Box is an easy-to-use author box plugin for WordPress which easily integrates itself into your website. With it, you can create, edit, and customize your author boxes to your heart’s content.
You can assign guest authors, add multiple authors to single articles, control the links you provide in your author boxes, and even save author boxes for specific types of articles only.
As far as visuals are concerned, you can customize them to suit your website perfectly so that there are no accidental color clashes or other minor visual issues your readers might notice.
Using Simple Author Box is extremely easy too. All you have to do to start off is log in to its site and download the plugin.
After installing it on your WordPress website, all you have to do is activate it with a code, and you’re ready to go.
When it comes to creating author boxes, you’re your own boss, so choose your preferred writer avatar image shape, the size of the box, and all the other customization options that are at your disposal.
From then on, creating author boxes becomes a simple and easy task you can do in a matter of minutes.
