Something often said in marketing, is that people generally will buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
If you are looking for inexpensive ways to sell more products or services online or get people to stay longer on your site, then make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.
If you run a WordPress-driven website, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to use a directory plugin that will let you display a directory containing information about your key partners, your business team, or your employees.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to add a simple and easy-to-update simple team members directory to your website using a free WordPress plugin.
Adding A Staff Directory To Your Site
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a no cost WordPress plugin that lets you staff members (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into your administration and from the admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new entry will have been added to your main WP admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the options and settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration
Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your directory, you could begin adding new staff members after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualemployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your categories go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups settings …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Adding groups is just like adding WordPress categories …
(Groups work like categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group name
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section to set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Type in a category description here (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create the new directory group …
(Groups settings area)
If you are a business that employs many people, having the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating each new item …
To change Groups for specific entries, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
The item’s details will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update to save your changes …
To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group when done to save your changes …
Add as many groups as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested groups to your directory)
Once you are done setting up your groups, you can start to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member screen)
This section provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your staff member’s name
- Slug: Change the slug for your staff member if required (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s position
- Email: The employee’s email
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add your company’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your staff members here. As this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign the individual to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your staff member’s details …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
After you have finished entering details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups section in the sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you have not set up your directory groups before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new directory category will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing someone’s details. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).
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After typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your staff directory …
Click View Post …
To modify the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that you have set up your permalinks correctly …
(Not found error? Check your permalinks)
If you need help setting up WP permalinks, go here:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more entries to your staff directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you are done adding employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list with all your directory items and the details you have added with each entry …
(Staff Members details list)
If you need to change individual entries, simply hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to modify the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from the staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Editing Staff Members profile information)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can become unwieldy.
Use the Search Staff Members search box to find member details if required …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
You can specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when finished to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that entries appear on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to its desired location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added member details to your directory, the next step is to display your directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order that your employees show on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order on the main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to its desired position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list)
After adding your staff details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List also lets you edit the style and layout of your employee directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Staff Loop Template)
The This code displays your listing as shown below …
(Default Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To make these fields show up in your directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Your staff details will now display as as shown below …
(Directory with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with editing code or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.
For example, a useful variation you can insert in your page to display a list of employees or team members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales managers”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the main menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
This section lets you modify some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export screen …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List support page and request help from the plugin author.
Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Employee Directories
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a listing of your staff. For example, here are a few other free plugins you can check out to create a staff directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
Modern Team Staff Directory helps you collect your team information and showcase it anywhere on your site in beautiful grids, columns and tables. This premium plugin features over a dozen presets and provides editors that make it easy to edit and update your directory.
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Responsive Templates)
Learn more here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily create a directory of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
You can also use custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.
The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like title, email address, phone, pic and staff bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)
This plugin uses shortcodes.
Learn more about this plugin here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just a single member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
This plugin includes two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.
Detailed information about each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)
Learn more here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Plugin)
This plugin uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage a staff directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Go here to learn more:
If the directory plugins listed above aren’t what you’re looking for, search the WordPress plugin directory or go online and search for:
- Add Staff Directory To WordPress
- WordPress Staff List
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple staff or team member directory to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know you and your company better.
Images of persons used in this tutorial to portray sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now