Author: WP Compendium

Consumer buying habits have successfully shown that people generally will buy from people they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for quicker and easier ideas to grow your business online? Then help your visitors get to know, like and trust your business better.

Adding a directory to your site can help boost your online credibility and get interested prospects to contact you.

In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to add an easy-to-maintain list of employees or team members in a WordPress site using free plugins.

How To Add An Employee List Directory: WordPress Plugin Tutorial

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you display information to visitors about your staff on your website.

The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into the WordPress admin and navigate to Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will appear in your main WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.

Configuring The Plugin

Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can start to add new employee entries at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff members.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups screen …

(Groups area)

Note: Configuring groups works just like categories in WordPress …

(Groups are like categories)

Add new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your category name
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested categories
4. Description – Type in a category description in this field
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to create the new category …

(Groups area)

If you run a business that employs many people, the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, developers, faculties, etc.

Create as many groups and nested categories as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …

(Nested categories)

Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering each new item …

To edit Groups for an item, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …

Your selected group details will display in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group from the Parent drop-down 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 Quick Edit …

Click on Update Group  when done to save your changes …

Add as many group names as you need to until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you are done setting up your directory structure, you can start adding your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This opens up the Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

This section provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Slug: You can change each employees’ permalink URL (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type your employee’s position here
• Email: The staff member’s email address
• Phone Number: Type in the person’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add your employee’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter your staff member’s Twitter username here (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 member here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign a staff or team member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …

(Staff directory fields)

After you have finished inputting details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

Note: If you did not set up your directory groups before adding staff member details, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group)

A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on the Add New Group button …

A new group will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to an employee’s 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 filling in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …

Click View Post …

You can edit the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the admin toolbar , go here:

• How To Navigate Around Your WP Admin Screen

Note: If ’not found’ page errors shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that you have configured your site permalinks correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get a page error)

For a detailed tutorial about setting up permalinks, go here:

• How To Improve Your WordPress SEO Using SEO-Friendly URLs

Keep adding new entries to your employee directory directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all the directory entries and their details …

(Staff Members details)

If you need to make changes to individual entries, simply hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their 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)

If you have many names to add, your list can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to locate entries if required …

(Search Staff Members search feature)

The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …

(Screen Options)

Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unselecting it 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

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order that listings show on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to its new location …

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

Once you are done adding all of your employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which listings show on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to its desired location …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

After adding all employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory to your site visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to create the style and layout of your employee directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

To customize the style and layout of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

To customize your directory listings, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.

For example, here is the default template used for displaying directory listings …

(Default Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To make these fields show in the directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the screenshot below …

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory should now look like …

(Directory listings with social media URLs added)

Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

As well as being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your main menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.

For example, a useful variation you can add to display only members of 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=”ASC”] (ascending).

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options on your menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Options settings)

Here you can change some of the labels used in the plugin

Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export page …

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List faq page.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your team members. For example, here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can use for creating a directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

This 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:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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.

The plugin lets you use custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides 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:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, plus as fields like job title, email address, 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 learn 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 plugin website)

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just one individual person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

Employee Spotlight installs with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

Detailed information about  each team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

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 an onsite employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)

Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

If the above plugins aren’t what you’re looking for, just go online or visit the WordPress plugin directory and search for:

• Add Staff Directory To WordPress
• WordPress Staff Plugin
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple employee or team member directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

Images of models used to portray staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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