Author boxes are a great way to add some character and style to your blog. Author boxes allow you to create an avatar for yourself or anyone else on your site which can be used in various designs like the header, post feed, comments section, etc. This tutorial will show you how to use 8 WordPress plugins that help you make author box creation easier with their different options so there is no reason not have one!
The “wordpress author box without plugin” is a blog post that will discuss the 8 best Author Box plugins for WordPress to add credibility to posts.
Those tidy little author bio boxes that show at the end of many blog entries, particularly on sites with many writers, are surely familiar to you. You may also be wondering how to obtain those author boxes in WordPress. It used to be that you had to mess about with the coding in your theme to do this. However, WordPress has grown to make the lives of bloggers and website developers simpler, and with author box plugins, it is now feasible to display a page author’s bio on the page itself.
What Is an Author Box and Why Do I Need One?
An author box is a defined space (typically towards the conclusion) of a WordPress article where visitors may learn more about the post’s author, i.e. their bio.
The author bio generally includes a photo or Gravatar, as well as information about the author’s expertise in their profession. So, here’s my author box, which shows at the bottom of all my WPLift articles (excluding the ones I ghostwrote – boo! ), including this one:
Author boxes aid authors by providing connections to their websites and social accounts, in addition to adding authenticity to pieces (and the site as a whole) and gaining readers’ confidence.
What Is the Best WordPress Author Box Plugin?
Using author box plugins, adding your writer’s bio is a breeze. Furthermore, many enable you to manage many guest writers.
I’ve done all the legwork and combed through eight of the top author box plugins available right now to help you select the appropriate one for your site. Surprisingly, the list contains a number of free alternatives, so even if you don’t have any money to spend, you may still add author boxes to your site.
So, let’s get right to it.
Elementor Pro is a program that allows you to create a
Given that Elementor Pro is a page builder, you’re probably asking why it’s on our list at all. Please bear with me because there is a method to my craziness.
Elementor Pro, as you may know, has a variety of handy components and widgets that can be dragged and dropped into posts and pages. One of them, though, is the author box widget, which you may install anywhere you need it and personalize to fit your website.
Other features of the Elementor Pro author box widget include:
The following is the rest of the article.
- Authors may be current (using the user’s dynamic WordPress information) or custom (using static information).
- Name, HTML tag, link, and bio information should all be included.
- Optional archive button to see all of an author’s posts.
- Customization possibilities are many.
- All of Elementor Pro’s additional features
- Support and updates
You may already be using Elementor Pro, in which case you have access to this widget. If not, this popular page builder plugin is available for as little as $49 per year. That’s a great deal for all the additional features it offers.
Purchase Elementor Pro.
Author Box (Simple)
Simple Author Box is a well-liked author bio plugin with over 50k active downloads from WordPress alone with a 4.4/5.0 user rating. The plugin adds an author box at the end of posts that includes the author’s name, Gravatar, bio, and social icons.
This freemium plugin has the following features in its free version:
- Customize the style, color, size, and text.
- For many device kinds, a responsive author box is available.
- At the conclusion of each post, an author box is automatically added.
- The author box may be manually inserted into a template file (single.php or author.php)
- Support for AMP (accelerated mobile websites) and RTL (right to left)
- It’s perfect for guest writers and guest pieces.
While those capabilities may be adequate for many bloggers and site owners, subscribing to a Pro plan unlocks a wealth of additional options, including:
- Adjust the author box’s location to either before or after the post.
- An option to connect the author’s name to their website in an existing or new tab (with a nofollow attribute if desired).
- Choose where the author box should appear and where it should not appear.
- On hover, the avatar rotates.
- Color palette, typefaces, font sizes, and other customizing choices are available.
- Customizable social icons
- Allow guest writers and co-authors to participate, as well as utilising guest authors as co-authors.
- Authors who are most popular are shown in a widget.
- Block Gutenberg
- Support and updates
- Money-back guarantee for seven days
A single-site Pro subscription costs $39 per year, while a lifetime license for three sites is $89.
Simple Author Box’s free edition is a great way to add basic author bio information to your website, while the Pro version gives you more options.
Obtain a Basic Author Box
Widget for Meks Smart Authors
Meks Smart Author Widget is a fantastic free tool for creating basic yet appealing author bio boxes. The author boxes, as the name indicates, appear in WordPress widget areas (typically the sidebars) rather than at the conclusion of the post. Personally, I like it since the author is apparent up front instead than buried off-screen at the bottom.
This plugin has the ability to automatically detect the proper author for a post and show the bio for that author. It also comes with the following features:
The following is the rest of the article.
- Avatar size may be changed.
- Link the author archive to the avatar picture and display name of the user.
- The widget title may be replaced with a user display name.
- Display choices that are adaptable
This plugin makes use of information from the author’s WordPress profile. As a result, it’s critical that those profiles be accurate and up to date. This also applies to other plugins that utilize WordPress profiles to dynamically fill author boxes.
Meks Smart Author Widget has a 4.4./5.0 rating in the WordPress plugin directory, as well as my recommendation for its refreshing simplicity. There are now over 30k active downloads.
Meks Smart Author Widget is available for download.
Starbox
Starbox makes adding author boxes to your articles quick and straightforward. This plugin’s main goal is to give writers the credit they deserve — congratulations to Starbox, in my opinion! As a result, there is a lot of freedom in terms of box aesthetics and position.
The free version of Starbox includes the following key features:
- Themes that come pre-installed
- Each author’s page may be easily customized, including the theme and social network icons.
- Authors may be able to personalize their author boxes.
- Only blog articles, only pages, or both may have boxes.
- Author names, job titles, and corporate names may all be included in bios (with weblink)
- For selected authors, the option to hide the author box is available (e.g., staff or ghostwriters, AI content, etc.)
- Replace Gravatars with images.
- Pages dedicated to author profiles
- Compatible with online stores
- Author boxes may be added to posts or widget areas using shortcodes.
- Display the most recent posts by the writers you’ve chosen.
- HTML 5
- Use Google Microformats to display rich snippets in Google searches (vCard)
- From the author box, you may link to all of the author’s articles.
For a free plugin, it is an outstanding feature set. A $35.99 Pro edition is offered, but I couldn’t locate any information regarding its additional features. After some searching and probing, I was able to discover confirmation from the developer in a forum, which stated:
“The PRO edition of Starbox includes the following features:
- Your website’s personalized user picture is visible to everyone (comments, admin, etc.)
- You may give an author extra social referrals.
- For various post kinds, you may choose to display or conceal the author box.
- Our personnel will respond to your email.”
In all honesty, it doesn’t seem to be much more than the free version, which is already rather remarkable, but $35.99 isn’t exactly a bargain.
Starbox is very popular, with over 50k current downloads and a fantastic 4.5/5.0 average user rating.
Get Starbox now!
The following is the rest of the article.
Author of a WordPress Post
WP Post Author is another free plugin that enables you to add author boxes to your articles that are basic yet elegant. When compared to Starbox, it is more simple and lacking in functionality, which may appeal to those seeking simplicity.
WP Post Author has the following features:
- The content of the box may be positioned to the left, right, or center.
- Shapes of profile images that may be customized
- Author widget for posts — pulls info from the author’s WordPress profile.
- Widgets for particular post authors (input a user id to get data from the chosen author’s WordPress profile) and custom post authors (i.e., create custom author boxes)
- Shortcodes such as title, align, display role, and so on.
- Social media symbols and hyperlinks
WP Post Author has been downloaded over 20,000 times from WordPress, with a perfect 5.0/5.0 star rating from users. Overall, it’s a good option to explore if you want a clean, uncomplicated approach to add author information to your website.
Obtain the WP Post Author
Box with author bios
Author Bio Box and WP Post Author are both free author box plugins that offer basic but useful author bio boxes to your WordPress site. They both have a 5.0/5.0 star user rating and both add basic but usable author bio boxes to your WordPress site. Simple plugins like this have the benefit of being code-light and having no influence on site speed.
Author Bio Box comes with the following features:
- RTL (right to left) support
- Support for Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
- All sorts of devices are supported.
- Gravatars for Authors
- Author’s website links (opens in a new tab)
- Colors, typefaces, and other elements may be changed.
Yes, it’s simple, and no, it doesn’t come with all the frills. Author Bio Box, on the other hand, does exactly what it says on the tin: it adds tidy author bio boxes to your articles.
Obtain the Author Bio Box
Authors on the Spot
For the time being, sticking with the super-simple, free theme, Guest Author is another no-frills plugin that allows you to add a brief guest author bio to every post without requiring them to register as a user.
Guest Author has a short list of features:
- Guest writers are regarded as though they were permanent contributors.
- Instead of using Gravatar, you may upload an avatar picture.
- A link to a custom page for the guest author is possible.
Despite its pared-down capabilities, Guest Post is perfect if you simply have guest writers write for you on a regular basis.
Guest Author has over 6k active downloads and a 4.4/5.0 star rating from users.
Obtain a Guest Author
Authors at PublishPress
To round up this list, I’ve included a freemium plugin that has outstanding free functionality that can be enhanced with a premium membership.
PublishPress Authors, like the other plugins I’ve mentioned, adds an author box at the bottom of your articles. You aren’t limited to just one author (as is the WordPress default) — you may add co-writers, numerous authors, or even guest authors.
The free edition of PublishPress Authors also includes the following features:
- Use widgets, shortcodes, and Gutenberg blocks to create boxes.
- Include the author’s name, email address, bio, and avatar.
- Support for custom post types
- It is not necessary for guest writers to be registered users.
- There are many layout choices available, including plain list, boxed, centered, inline, and inline with avatars.
If you want to upgrade to PublishPress Authors Pro, it will cost you $69 a year for a single domain, $129 for five, or $199 if you need to cover a lot more sites. These prices provide the following features in addition to the free plugin:
- Author profile fields and layouts may be customized.
- Control of access to the admin area
- There are no PublishPress advertisements or branding, thus it’s a white label solution.
- Support and updates
I appreciate that PublishPress Authors lets you add many bios to your pieces. This plugin may, for example, assign the words in a post to an author while the photographs are attributed to a photographer.
Users have given PublishPress Authors a strong 5.0/5.0 star rating, with over 4k active downloads of the free edition alone.
Authors from PublishPress
Which Author Box plugin is your personal favorite?
Finally, as a content writer, I believe that having author credit against my pieces is beneficial since it raises my profile and gives my articles and the sites that publish them more credibility.
Do you create your own blogs or do you hire freelancers to do it for you? Do you use one of the plugins mentioned in this post to display author bio boxes on your site? Please leave a remark below; I’d love to know what you’re up to with your websites.
Watch This Video-
The “how to add author box in wordpress” is a blog post that covers the 8 best WordPress plugins that can be used to add credibility to posts.
Related Tags
- wordpress author page plugin
- elementor author box
- simple author box
- author box gutenberg
- bio plugin wordpress
