How to add an author in a Shopify blog

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In the remainder of this article, we will demonstrate how you can change the author on your Shopify blog posts.

How to change the author on blog posts

Before you can change authors on a blog post, you need to add one to your Shopify staff.

To do so:

1. Log in to your Shopify store
2. Click Settings to navigate to the Settings page.
3. Navigate to the Users and permissions page.
4. Under the Staff section, click Add staff.
5. Provide a first name, last name, and email address for the new author.
6. Tick the required permissions from the permission list.
7. Click Send invite.

An email invitation will be sent to the author. Once they receive login credentials, they can start posting on the blog under their name. You can also add them as the author to new or existing posts by typing their name in the Author field.

Note that the number of people you can have on your staff roster is limited by your Shopify subscription plan. If you’re at the limit, you must suspend or delete an existing staff member account before you can add someone new.

How to add a new author without creating a new account

The method described above doesn’t work in all use-case scenarios. For example, what if you want to publish a one-off post by a guest contributor, but you’re already at your staff limit? Is there a way to do so without creating a new account for the author?

With Bloggle, our Shopify blogging app, you can. Bloggle lets you specify authors on a per-post basis, even if they’re not members of your Shopify staff. Here’s how:

1. Install Bloggle from Bloggle’s official Shopify app page.
2. Launch Bloggle from your Shopify app list.
3. Create a new post, or open an existing post for editing.
4. Switch to the Settings tab in the top left.
5. Click Blog post settings to open the settings menu.
6. Scroll down and click the Add author button.
7. Provide a name for the author and click Confirm.

Once you’ve added the new author, you can add them to future blog posts. Let’s see how this works with an example. Let’s say we want to select the author Ashley from our previous example for a new post. We did the following:

1. Click Create new blog.
2. Select Empty as our template.
3. Click the Author drop-down menu and select “Ashley” from the list.
4. Click Next and follow the steps to finish creating the post.

When we preview the blog, we can see the new author has been successfully assigned to the appropriate post.

Note that authors added with Bloggle are not available in the default Shopify blog editor. As we can see in the screenshot below, Ashley is not available for selection when we try to edit the author.

However, note also that authors added with Bloggle do appear in the Blog posts section of your Shopify dashboard, so searching and sorting by author still works as intended.

Other benefits of using Bloggle for your Shopify blog

Besides providing expanded authorship functionality, Bloggle has a couple of additional features that can help you manage your Shopify blog.

1. Product embeds

Bloggle lets you embed Shopify products directly in your posts. You can customize their size and placement, as well as add custom CTA buttons. You can also add product carousels, as well as product sections accompanied by text.

The main benefit of product embeds is that customers don’t have to navigate to a separate product page to add items to their shopping cart, improving your conversion rate in the process.

2. SEO Analyzer

As you add content to your blog posts, Bloggle automatically analyzes it for compliance with SEO best practices.

For example, if your post is missing key elements such as headings, focus keywords, or a featured image, the SEO analyzer will highlight this, along with a range of other SEO issues. This tool is indispensable for improving your organic reach on search engines.

3. Templates

Templates are essential for managing long-term content production for your blog. Bloggle lets you create templates from existing posts, and you can also create them from scratch.

This feature pairs well with Bloggle’s customizable content elements, including the previously mentioned product embeds, but also social media embeds, CTA buttons, image galleries, and more.

How do I remove the author's name from posts?

In some cases you may want to remove an author’s name from a blog post. Maybe the article was improperly attributed, or there was a request by an author to have their name removed.

In either case, you have 3 principal ways to remove the author's name in Shopify.

1. Remove the author from your Shopify staff

You can remove the author’s account from your Shopify staff. To do this:

1. Click Settings to navigate to the Settings page.
2. Navigate to the Users and permissions page.
3. Under the Staff section, click the desired author’s name.
4. Under the Manage staff access section, click Remove staff member.
5. Enter your password when prompted and click Remove.

Doing this will remove the author’s name from all blog posts, and replace it with your blog’s default author.

2. Remove the author in Bloggle

Bloggle doesn’t require you to create new staff accounts to add authors to your blog. Conversely, you don’t have to remove an account just to remove the author of a blog post. 

Instead, you simply select the blank entry from the drop-down menu at any time you would select an author.

3. Prevent the author’s name from displaying

If you’re using a Vintage Shopify theme, you can prevent the author’s name from displaying. It requires a bit of coding, but the official guide covers the necessary steps.

In a nutshell, you change a couple of variables that control which HTML page elements get displayed. Note that this method removes all authors from your posts, which might not be what you’re looking for.

If you want to remove the name of a single author, use the other methods described here.

How to edit author bio in Shopify

Shopify lets you edit the bio of each author on your blog. Simply do the following:

1. Click Settings to navigate to the Settings page.
2. Navigate to the Users and permissions page.
3. Under the Staff section, click the desired author’s name.
4. Provide the bio to the Bio field.
5. Click Save.

Change your Shopify blog author without creating new accounts

We’ve explored how you can change your Shopify blog author in a couple of different ways. The default way requires you to add new accounts to your Shopify staff, which is fine in some cases, but inconvenient in others (guest writers for example).

The Bloggle way doesn’t require you to create staff accounts and instead lets you add new authors on a per-post basis, making it the more convenient choice.