The Boost of a Byline

The thing you’re working on right now, that project or proposal or spreadsheet, would you put your name on that work? Not just internally, like in an email, but for the whole world to see. Right on the front page up under the headline. Spreadsheet, By Janelle Jackson. Powerpoint presentation, By Michael Tunblad. Blog post, By … you get the idea. Then, at the end of the work, maybe add your email address, too.

Journalists have been doing this for at least 100 years (the email address is a modern addition). The addition of a byline is one of my favorite things about journalism, and it can improve all work, not just newspaper stories and blog posts.

These people get credit, or criticism, for their work everyday, and it improves the work they do.

Byline Birth

“One early advocate of bylines,” reported Reuters columnist Jack Shafer in 2012, “was Civil War General Joseph Hooker, who imposed them on battlefield correspondents in 1863 ‘as a means of attributing responsibility and blame for the publication of material he found inaccurate or dangerous to the Army of the Potomac’ (quote from Michael Schudson in Discovering the News: A Social History of American Newspapers). Before the term “byline” was born, some early writers and publishers, says Shafer, referred to such work as “signed articles” or “signature pieces.”

I like that term “signature” piece. I make a darn good omelet with spinach and bacon, and it’s kinda my signature breakfast. I’m honored to make one for friends and family.

When I read a “news” story without a byline, I trust it less. Many business owners and bosses today, I imagine, would not want you to use a byline work you create for the company. It’s the company’s property, after all, and you probably didn’t do the entire project alone. Alfred Ochs, owner-publisher of the New York Times in the early 1900s, held that same belief. Ochs felt the Times was responsible for the reporting, not the journalist alone. The news industry proved Ochs wrong, and the byline has been standard practice since the 1920s for journalists.

One notable exception, which I do enjoy reading, is The Economist, which explains its non-use of bylines by saying, “it allows many writers to speak with a collective voice. The lack of bylines remains central to our identity and a distinctive part of our brand.” Okay, good branding work, perhaps, but I disagree with the policy overall.

Bylines benefit journalism and they can also improve your work and business.

Adding a byline to your work will:

Make the Product Better

The literary magazine Lippincott’s Monthly, Dec. 1989, quoted Alfred Balch on the topic of “signature” (today’s “byline”) in newspapers, “[I]t is the experience of every man who writes that signature makes him more careful.” For the same reason, your chef at a fine restaurant might visit your table; that’s a culinary byline move right there. Artists add their name when they are finished with work they’re proud of.

Build Morale

I remember my first published and bylined article. If you flew Mesaba Airlines in the early ’90s, you might have read my work in that flyer’s inflight magazine. With my name on my work seen by hundreds (thousands?) of strangers, I felt a connection to that company and that magazine, and I was happy to keep working and I wanted them to succeed.

Put bylines on your company’s blog posts, and those writers will also sense a boost. Take it beyond blog posts. You can put “bylines” on proposals you send out, or on presentations you do for events, or on anything you share internally. Even if it’s created by a team – or especially if it’s created by a team. If you’re confident to share it, think of the morale boost of crediting the person or people behind the work.   

Improve Writing

Once you put your name at the top of a blank page, your writing will improve. You will feel the need to write with more personality, and with an active style (“I created this” instead of “it was made”). Put your name on the draft immediately as you begin work on it and you will be compelled to write with a clarity and style that you’ll want to share. It’s like cooking dinner for friends compared to ordering take-out.

Build Trust

When readers see your byline and read your work, you’re on the path to building a relationship and gaining trust. You’re bound to be more transparent and personal, once your name is on the work. And readers find that endearing. I know I do.

Boost SEO

Google says, “We strongly encourage adding accurate authorship information, such as bylines to content where readers might expect it.” If you’re a student of Google’s algorithm updates, you have seen E-E-A-T, and that stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. This is what Google looks for in content as it determines search rankings. “If you're clearly indicating who created the content, you're likely aligned with the concepts of E-E-A-T and on a path to success,” says the Google machine.

Is there a downside to bylines?

Nope.

Many people ignore them and jump right into the content. Or they just read the headline. What are you gonna do?

Seriously, if you’re a business leader and you fear that giving staff a byline credit will take the spotlight away from your company or your leadership, then I feel bad for your people. Help people do great work and acknowledge that they did it.