Author: WP Compendium

Consumer behavior research shows that people generally buy from those they know, like and trust.

Are you looking for cost-effective ideas to sell more products or services online? Then one of the things you can do, is help your prospects get to know you and your organization better.

Adding a directory to your website can generate increased trust, boost your credibility online and get more prospects to buy from your site.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to create and add an updatable list of staff or team members in your web site using a free plugin.

Adding An Employee Directory

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you staff members (you could also use it to display faculty, etc.).

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

Log into the dashboard and in your admin menu section, choose 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  – plugin search results)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members menu)

Here is where you will manage and configure all of the options and settings for this plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.

Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin to add new employee entries after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your directory categories. From your WordPress dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This loads the Groups settings area …

(Groups settings)

Note: Configuring groups works just like categories in WordPress …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group category name
2. Slug – Type in the slug 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 the category description here
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create a new category …

(Groups screen)

If you work with a medium to large organization, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for investors, project teams, 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 groups)

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

To edit or reassign Groups for specific entries, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …

The selected group will display in the Edit Group screen. Select a new category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

To edit your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …

Click Update Group when done …

Add as many group names as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested categories your staff directory)

Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start to add staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member section …

(Add New Staff Member area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter your employee’s name
• Slug: Here you can modify each staff members’ permalink URL (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your employee’s role
• Email: Enter your employee’s email address
• Phone Number: Enter the person’s phone number into this field
• Facebook URL: Type your company’s Facebook URL here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter the staff member’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your staff member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign the person to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …

(Add Staff Member settings)

After you are done entering details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups box in your sidebar …

(Groups section)

Note: If you have not set up categories before adding new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group)

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

Your new category will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign your entry to the group …

(New group added in Groups section)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing a staff member’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 entering the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …

Click View Post …

You can update your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using the dashboard admin toolbar here:

• The WP Admin Screen – A Step-By-Step Tutorial

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

(Not found error – Check your permalinks)

If you need help setting up WP permalinks, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Continue adding new details to your staff directory directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all the staff profiles and details you have added related to each entry …

(Staff Members table)

If you need to modify an individual’s entry, hover over their listing, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit to update the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from the directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Editing Staff Members profile details)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can become unwieldy.

Use the Search Staff Members search field to find items …

(Search Staff Members search feature)

You can specify which fields can display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that listings display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to the new position …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list)

After adding your members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to a new position …

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered listings)

After adding all members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin allows you to edit the layout and style of your staff list listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

To customize the layout and style of your employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

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

For example, here is the Default Template …

(Default Plugin Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Your directory entries will now appear with Facebook and Twitter links as as the example below shows …

(Directory with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with editing code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

In addition to being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your WP admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful shortcode variation you can add, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”customer representatives”])

You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options in the menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Options settings)

This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin

You can also export your staff members info by going to the main admin menu and clicking Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need help with the Simple Staff List plugin, visit the plugin website.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use. Here are some other free plugins you can look at:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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)

Learn more here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.

This plugin lets you create custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

This plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.

The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

Go here to learn more:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and table views, plus as fields like title, email, phone number, pic and bio, allowing you to present 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 source: plugin website)

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just an 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.

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

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

(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

This plugin uses custom post types for staff management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an employee directory on your website …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)

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

Learn more here:

• Staffer

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
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an easy-to-update directory of staff members to your website using a free WP plugin.

Models used to display staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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