In conversations about website strategy, there is often a lengthy discussion about how to manage listing staff names and bios. We get questions like:
- Should we have bios on our website?
- How long should bios be?
- Headshot or team shot?
- First-person or third-person?
- Should we just list employee names?
- Should we list their email addresses?
We recommend telling the story of your business, and if your employees help create that story or make that story shine, you should include them in some way on your website.
The about section of websites is often one of the sections with the highest amount of traffic, especially in service businesses. People want to know about the people they could work with, they want to learn your history and see examples of your work. We recommend telling the story of your business, and if your employees help create that story or make that story shine, you should include them in some way on your website. There are lots of ways to do this; here are a few ideas:
- Keep it brief and have a group page where all team members are listed with a name, photo and contact information. If you have a lot of employees, consider just listing the executive team. See The Center for Nonprofit Management’s website as an example. They showcase all of their customer-focused employees with excellent head shots and give their customers quick access by listing employee contact information.
- Go for a little more detail and give each individual a page with a longer bio, large photo and contact information.
- Stick with the list idea as mentioned in #1, but also include employee information on the department page as well. Trinity Episcopal Cathedral’s website uses this method to give congregation members a quick contact should they need more information.
- Focus on the team and have a page that includes descriptions of your teams with or without specifically detailing people. This is great for larger organizations that still want to describe their employees and culture. It’s also great for companies with people who don’t want to be photographed. This is how Element 47 currently does it.
- Conduct interviews with your employees and post them as posts on your blog.
- If you want the employees to have a more active presence, give them the opportunity to write regularly on your blog.
How are you showcasing your employees? Does your audience need to know more about them? How can your website help? We hope this gives you a few ideas.
In our next post, we’ll give you specific tips on the bios and photos.