After a blog post, having an author section looks cool and allows the readers to learn more about the author. But, most of the themes do not allow adding author info below posts.
In this post, I will share easy steps to add an author section after blog posts on your WordPress website. These include free and paid methods.
Add Author Info below post content for free.
It is the first method of adding the author box after the post content using Gutenberg (default block editor). Here is how you can do it in the default block editor:
1. Open block editor (visit Posts > Add New).
2. Add a column block having two columns with One-third, two-third split (30:70). You can also customize the 20:80 width after adding the columns.
3. Add author image in the first column (smaller one) and author bio in the second column.
4. You can also add a Social Icon block to add social media links below the author bio.
5. Adjust the height, background, and colors as per your requirements.
6. Select the entire block > click on the three dots and add to reusable blocks. (Refer to the screenshot below)
7. Once you have saved the block as a reusable block, you can use the same box in any post. All you need to do is, search the block while adding the post.
Tip: To make the block more appealing, you can also use the Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg plugin and style the columns, heading quickly.
| Pros | Cons |
| Free of cost | Manual insertion |
| No need to add an extra plugin | Need multiple reusable blocks for multiple authors |
| Light-weight solution | Missing Schema Markup |
| Customize everything according to your requirements | |
| Link or unlink the author’s name to a page |
Beginner Guide: How to add navigation menu in WordPress
Add Author box with a free plugin.
If you want to auto add the author section for every post, you can use a free plugin to add and customize the author info. Here are two plugins, for example;
1. Molongui Authorship
You can use the Molongui authorship plugin by Molongui to add a cool author box to your website. After activating the plugin, it will automatically enable the settings to add the author info in every post. You can customize the settings further.
Some core features of this plugin are:
- Guest author box
- Co-author
- Author box
- Author meta tags
- Schema markup
- Local avatar
2. Simple Author Box
Simple Author Box by WebFactory Ltd is another lightweight plugin solution to add author information on posts. Here are some core features of this plugin:
- Author gravatar, social icons, and more information
- Customize to match theme styles
- Responsive for all devices
- Auto/manual insertion
Another plugin: Starbox – the Author Box for Humans
Pros and Cons of using external plugins to add an author box
| Pros | Cons |
| Easy and quick solution | Limited customization options |
| Automatic insertion | Need to upgrade to the pro version for some features |
| Support for multiple authors | It May not necessarily be compatible with the theme and other plugins you use |
| Schema support |
Insert Author Box with Elementor
You can also add an author info box if you are subscribed to the Elementor Pro. Elementor Pro allows you to add a dynamic author box on the posts.
Elementor Author Box widget is a premium widget that you can use if you have an Elementor Pro subscription.
Here is how you can create an author box and use it in the posts:
1. Visit Elementor > Templates > Add New > Section > Create Template.
2. In the Elementor editor screen, search the Author Box widget and drag to the visual editor area.
3. Customize the widget styling, enable/disable the features you don’t want.
4. After making necessary changes, click on publish and return to the WordPress dashboard.
5. Visit the Elementor templates section and copy the shortcode of the author box template you just created. If you do not see the shortcode, click on the screen options and check the shortcode options.
6. Now, use the shortcode in the posts to which you want to add the author box.
7. If you do not want to use the shortcode to include the Author Box manually, you can create a single post template using Elementor Pro with the Author Box widget, and then it will use the same layout/format for every post.
Pros and Cons of Adding Author Box with Elementor
| Pros | Cons |
| Pre-made widget | Need Elementor Pro |
| Works with all themes | Manual insertion if the complete template is not created |
| Most popular page builder | Limited customization in the Widget |
| Easy and well documented | |
| Extend styling with custom CSS |
Using Astra Pro to add an author box
If you are using the Astra theme, you will have two different options of adding an author box to the blog posts. The first is through the customizer, and the other is through Astra Custom Layouts.
Astra is one of the fastest and lightweight WordPress themes with many options to design websites professionally. Here is how you can add an author box in Astra websites:
Enable author section with Blog Pro Module of Astra Pro
1. Install and Activate the Astra Pro
2. Visit Appearance > Astra Options, and enable the Blog Pro module
3. Now, visit Customize > Blog > Single Post and enable the Author info.
4. You can customize the appearance of the author box with the help of custom CSS.
Add Author Box with Astra Custom Layouts module.
1. After activating Astra Pro visit Astra Options and enable the Custom Layouts module.
2. Visit Custom Layouts and click on Add new.
3. By default, the block editor will open. You can switch to another page builder such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, etc.
4. Create a design for Author Box, and in the custom layouts settings, select the following options:
Layout > Hooks
Action > content_bottom
Display on > All posts
User roles > All
5. Click on publish to save the custom layout. It will auto-add the author box to all the posts.
Pros and Cons of Adding Author info using Astra Custom Layouts
| Pros | Cons |
| Automatic insertion | Available with Astra Pro |
| Choose the location to display the author box | Need Multiple layouts for multiple authors |
| Customize color, fonts, image, and the content | |
| Use your favorite page builder. | |
| Set the display rules (any page, posts, category, etc.) | |
| Time duration and responsiveness |
Conclusion
That was all about adding a cool author section on the blog posts. You can also use the custom code to add the author box by editing the theme single-post-template.php file and adding some custom CSS.
But, that option is not recommended for beginners, and you may end up breaking the theme. Instead, the best option would be to use a specific plugin.
Alternatively, if you do not want to add any extra plugin and need full functionality without coding, the first method to create Author Box using Gutenberg is the best option.
You can also try Elementor Pro or Astra Pro if you are already using the Astra theme and Elementor plugin.
These are the themes and a page builder, and there may not necessarily be any compatibility issues.
I hope that helps, and please do not forget to share your feedback in the comments section below.