Why You Need An Author Byline on Every Blog Post
The practice of journalists attributing their names with a short biography to articles through author bylines emerged nearly a century ago. Prior to the 1900s, anonymous articles were not unusual, and those who chose to “sign” their work with just their name often sought recognition for their work and accountability for mistakes.
Bylines became a common practice by the 1920s, partially due to a celebrity-esque status that some journalists started to receive.
In today’s world, where professionals from all walks of life have blogs, everyone has the ability to be an author of content. However, not everyone understands the standards that come along with authoring each article or blog post written.
It’s not only important to use author bylines on every piece of content you create, but it’s also crucial to consider what goes into your author byline.
What Is An Author Byline
An author byline is the short blurb you see either at the top of a blog post or at the bottom that shares a little bit about the author. It’s like a mini author biography that tells the reader who wrote the post and a little bit about that person. It usually includes a link where someone can click to go and learn more about the author – that backlink is something many bloggers seek when they guest post on other sites.
Including an author byline is often more obviously needed when a guest shares content on another person’s blog, but it’s just as important for you to author your own content on your own blog.
Why Do You Need An Author Byline
First and foremost, your byline is for the reader. Readers want to know who is sharing the information they read. It’s essential to build trust, and your byline can help with that.
Additionally, your byline can help you build your credibility, increase your brand’s visibility, and grow your audience over time.
Knowledge lives in our pockets, so while knowledge is important, people are looking for more than just the facts. They want your perspective on those facts. By using a byline on any piece of content you author, you help people remember you and your perspective, not just the facts.
Plus, with the recent Google documents leak, we know that Google is tracking the link between content and author. We may not be able to draw exact conclusions as to what this means, but it shows there is some value in giving Google that information to track. In other words, use bylines.
What to Include in Your Author Byline
There are four basic pieces of information you should include in your byline. You may need more than one byline to include the proper information for each piece of content you write.
Your byline should be short and sweet. No more than 2-3 sentences and around 50 words, give or take a finitely no more than 60. You are not writing a full biography or about page; it’s just a couple sentences that speak to specific aspects of who you are.
Be sure to include each of these in any byline you use:
- Your name as you want people to know you.
- Your title and/or your credentials.
- Your expertise and/or experience that is applicable to the content.
- A link where people can learn more about you.
If you write content about a few different topics, it may make sense for you to have more than one byline on hand. It can be very confusing for a reader to get to the end of an article about helping a kitten learn to use a litter box, and then the author byline says nothing about your expertise in raising kittens or even anything about being involved in the pet industry.
Your byline should help clarify why you are someone the reader can trust to share good information on the topic.
PRO TIP: When guest posting on another site, link to your About Page, not your homepage. You want people to land on a page where they can learn more about you. Another good option is your LinkedIn if you use it and keep it up to date.
Byline Examples
When we are looking at the byline you will use on your own site, it needs to highlight topics you write about
As an example, here is my byline for blogpaws.com:
Chloe DiVita, BlogPaws CEO, has 15+ years of experience in digital marketing, the pet industry, and as a greyhound mom. She’s earned accolades like Pet Age’s 40 Under 40 and Muse Medallions from the Cat Writers’ Association. Formerly Executive Producer for TEDxCambridge, she brings storytelling and public speaking to her work with creators, leaders, and brands.
It’s 3 sentences, 56 words, and includes the relevant parts of my experience to cover the topics I write about here.
If I were to guest post on another site, I would consider the overall audience of that site, along with the main topic I would be writing about for the site, and then edit my byline accordingly.
For instance, if I were to write a post on a site that was all about greyhounds and thus had a greyhound-owning audience, I might use this for my byline:
Chloe DiVita is the CEO of BlogPaws, a pet blogger community. She has 15+ years of experience in the pet industry and as a greyhound mom. She’s been one of Pet Age’s 40 Under 40 and considers the last 18 years of being a greyhound mom to earn her an honorary Noodle Nose degree.
I changed the overall focus by removing some of the business experience, and I explained BlogPaws in a simple way because they will probably not know what our business is. I also made it a little more cute with the noodle nose reference.
Another example of an edit I would make for a more business-focused site, say a pet business magazine, is this:
Chloe DiVita is a Speaker Coach and CEO of BlogPaws, a community of pet-focused content creators who work with brands. With 15+ years of experience in digital marketing, the pet industry, and storytelling, she helps leaders and brands elevate their stories. Her accolades include Pet Age’s 40 Under 40 and Muse Medallions from the Cat Writers’ Association.
For this version, I focused more on the business aspects and my storytelling skills since storytelling is often a part of the content I write.
Ultimately, the author byline you use on your content should cover the basics. You can link to your About Page, where they can learn more. Don’t forget that you are talking to your own audience when you are including it on the content on your site.
If you guest post for others, consider having a few versions you use that take into account their audience and what you want to be known for with their audience.
Your byline is a mini author bio that helps the audience get to know you, helps Google crawl and verify your information, and helps you build your personal brand.
If you are thinking about creating or editing your byline, let us know that we inspired you in the comments!
About the Author: Chloe DiVita, BlogPaws CEO, has 15+ years of experience in digital marketing, the pet industry, and as a greyhound mom. She’s earned accolades like, Pet Age’s 40 Under 40 and Muse Medallions from the Cat Writers’ Association. Formerly Executive Producer for TEDxCambridge, she brings storytelling and public speaking to her work with creators, leaders, and brands. Read more…
