On many small business sites, the team page is the most out-of-date page of all. It still shows someone who left two years ago, the photos were taken on four different phones against four different walls, and the newest person on the team is not there at all. Visitors notice, and some of them ring up asking for the person who left.
It is not hard to add a team page in WordPress that looks tidy and stays accurate. The layout takes an hour. Most of the real work is agreeing with each person what to show, and deciding who updates the page when people come and go.
What the page is for
A visitor opens a team page to answer a simple question: who will I actually be dealing with? For a clinic, a law firm or a small agency, that is often the reason they choose you over a larger competitor. For a shop or a trade business, it may be enough to show the owner and the people customers meet.
That means you do not have to include everyone. Show the people a customer will speak to, work with or meet. If the business is mostly you, a short section with your photo on the About page may serve better than a separate team page. Writing the About page itself is a different job, and our post on about us page examples covers it.
Ask before anyone goes on the page
A name, photo and job title are personal information. Before publishing someone, ask them, and agree in writing on:
- whether they want to appear at all, and whether with full name or first name only;
- which photo is used;
- what the short bio says;
- whether any contact details are shown, and which.
Use work contact details only, preferably a role address such as an enquiries mailbox rather than a personal one. Never publish a personal mobile number unless the person has clearly asked for it. Some people have good reasons not to be findable online, and “no” should be an easy answer to give.
Agree also what happens when they leave. The simplest promise is that their profile comes down in the same week.
Photos that look like a set
Photos that match do more for a team page than expensive ones. They do not need to be studio portraits, only taken the same way.
- Same background and light. A plain wall near a window, photographed at the same time of day, works well.
- Same framing. Head and shoulders, with the camera at eye height.
- Same shape. Crop every photo to the same ratio, for example square, before uploading. In recent versions the Image block also has an aspect ratio setting that crops the display to a fixed shape.
- Sensible file size. Phone photos are much larger than a team grid needs. Resize them first, or run them through our image compressor.
- Alt text with the person’s name, such as “[Name], office manager”, so the page makes sense to someone using a screen reader.
When someone joins later, photograph them the same way. Keep a note of where and how the photos were taken so it is easy to repeat.
How to add a team page in WordPress
Start by creating the page itself: open Pages in the dashboard and add a new one, with a clear title such as “Our team”. If you need a refresher on page settings and adding it to the menu, see adding a new page in WordPress. Then choose one of the layouts below.
Layout 1: a grid of short profiles
Best for teams of three to twelve people with short bios.
- Add a Columns block with three columns (two if bios are longer).
- In the first column, add an Image block with the photo, a Heading (set to a smaller level such as H3) with the name, and a Paragraph with the role and one or two sentences.
- Finish that column completely, including spacing and text size, before copying it.
- Copy the finished column’s blocks into the other columns and change the details. For more rows, duplicate the whole Columns block.
- Preview on a phone. Columns stack, so the grid becomes a single list; check that names stay with the right photos.
Layout 2: one row per person
Best for a small team with longer bios, such as partners in a practice. Use a Media & Text block for each person: photo on one side, name and bio on the other. Alternating the image left and right down the page breaks up the rhythm. Our post on the Media & Text block explains the settings, including how it stacks on mobile.
Layout 3: a team block from your theme or a plugin
Many themes and block collections include a team member or profile block with spaces for photo, name, role and social links. If yours has one, it saves some layout work. Page builders have similar elements. For a larger organisation where people change often, some plugins and themes store each team member as a separate entry in the dashboard and display them in a grid automatically, so adding a person means filling in a form rather than editing the page.
For most small businesses, layouts 1 and 2 are enough and add nothing to maintain.
Writing the short bio
Bios on team pages tend to be either a CV or a joke. Aim for the middle: what the person does for customers, and one human detail if they are happy to share it.
- Lead with the role in plain words: “Handles all bookings and first visits”, not only “Client Relations Executive”.
- Add qualifications only where a customer would care, and only if they are accurate and current.
- Keep each bio to a similar length so the page looks balanced.
- Write in the third person or first person, but keep it the same for everyone.
Keeping the team page accurate
A team page needs an owner. Name one person who updates it, and make it part of what happens when someone joins or leaves.
- Someone joins: agree their details, take the photo the usual way, add the profile.
- Someone leaves: remove the profile, then check other pages, blog author boxes, testimonials that mention them by name, and contact forms that still send to them. Removing their logins and other access is a separate checklist, covered in removing access when an employee leaves.
- Every few months: read the page once and check titles and bios are still true.
The same habit of naming an owner applies to every feature you add, which is one of the points in our overview of adding to your WordPress site. Our WordPress guide for business owners covers the wider routine.
Mistakes to avoid
- Placeholder profiles. “Coming soon” cards or silhouettes look unfinished. Wait until there is a real person to show.
- Stock photos. A stock image standing in for a real staff member is misleading. Use no photo rather than someone else’s face.
- Personal social links without asking. A link to someone’s private profile is their decision, not the company’s.
- Uneven bios. One long bio next to five single lines makes the page look lopsided.
Frequently asked questions
Should each team member have their own page?
Only if there is enough to say and customers search for them by name, as can happen with doctors, lawyers or consultants. For most small businesses, one team page with short profiles is clearer and easier to keep up to date. Separate pages that hold two lines each add little for visitors.
What if a staff member does not want their photo online?
Respect it. You can show their name and role without a photo, or leave them off the page entirely. Avoid using a silhouette or an illustration in place of one person only, as it draws attention. If several people prefer no photos, consider a page without photos for everyone.
Can I link each person to their LinkedIn profile?
Yes, if they agree. Add the link to their name or use a small Social Icons block under the bio. Check each link opens the right profile, and remember that a public LinkedIn profile may show more about the person than your page does. Remove the link when they leave, along with the profile.
Is it safe to show staff email addresses?
Published email addresses attract spam and can be used in phishing emails that pretend to come from your business. A shared role address or a contact form is usually safer. If you do show individual addresses, use work addresses only and make sure the mailbox has good spam filtering.
A team page should be something you can update yourself in a few minutes. If yours came from a theme layout you no longer understand, or the grid falls apart on phones however you arrange it, our WordPress support can help you get it back to that point.
Next in this series: How to Add a Portfolio to WordPress
