It’s often said in business circles that people often tend to buy from people they already know, like and trust.
Are you searching for quicker, easier and cheaper ideas to sell more products or services online and get people to stay longer on your site? Then one of the things you can do, is help prospects get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.
Adding an employee directory to your website is a great way to let visitors learn more about the people behind the scenes in your business.
This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of staff to your website.
Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff List Directory In WordPress
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you staff.
First, let’s install and activate this plugin.
Log into your WP dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will see that a new entry will appear on your WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
The Staff Members menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Configuring Simple Staff List
Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could begin to add new employee entries at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your members.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by configuring your directory categories. In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups settings …
(Groups settings)
Note: Setting up directory groups is similar to working with categories …
(Groups work like categories)
Add a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group name
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested groups
- Description – Type in the category description in this field (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create the new directory category …
(Groups settings screen)
If you run a business that employs many people, being able to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for investors, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering each new item …
To edit Groups for individual items, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected group details will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button to save your changes …
Add as many categories as you need to until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to begin adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Enter the employee’s name
- Permalink: Change each staff members’ slug (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s role
- Email: Enter your employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type the person’s Facebook address into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in your company’s Twitter username into this field (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Type in a profile description for your employees here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign your employee to a group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen options tab)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
After you have entered each staff member’s details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups feature located in the sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up categories before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …
A new directory category will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(Groups section)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing new employee details. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After typing in your team member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can update the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on using the WP admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you get an error like the one shown below, check that your site permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)
If you need help setting up WordPress permalinks, see this tutorial:
Repeat the above process to add new members to your staff directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees into 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 table of all your directory entries and details you have added related to each entry …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to change individual entries, just hover over their name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from your employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Edit Staff Members info)
If you have many employees, your list can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find a member …
(Search members)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options)
Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order that your employees show on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to the new location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding all of your members’ details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that listings appear on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to a new position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
After adding all members’ details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to edit the layout and style of your employee directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Plugin Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To display these fields, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your directory should now look like …
(Staff profiles with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess around with CSS styles and template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
In addition to being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen displays all the shortcode variations you can use with the plugin.
For example, a useful variation you can add to your page to display a list of employees belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”property managers”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options on your menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)
This section lets you modify some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to your WordPress admin menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need plugin support, visit the plugin plugin website and request help from the plugin author.
Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use. For example, here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
The Modern Team Staff Directory plugin 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)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
Staff Directory lets you easily create a directory of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
You can also add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.
The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
With Company Directory, you can add your employees to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone number, photo and staff bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.
Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)
This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.
Learn more here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just one individual member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
Employee Spotlight includes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)
Learn more here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
Staffer uses custom post types for staff/employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an onsite staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
If the above plugins 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 directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so your site visitors can get to know you and the people in your team better.
Images of persons used to depict sample staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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