No doubt you’ve heard that people generally will buy from people they know, like and trust.
Are you searching for ways to sell more products online? Then help your prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.
If you are a WordPress user, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to use a WordPress directory plugin that lets you add a directory containing information about your partners, your team, or your staff members.
In this tutorial, we show you how to easily create and add a simple faculty directory to WordPress without coding skills.
Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory To WordPress
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you staff.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into the WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, a new entry will display on your main WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could begin adding new staff member details at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place yourstaff into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s configure your groups. From your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups section …
(Groups area)
Note: Adding directory groups is just like setting up categories …
(Groups work just like categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your category name here
- Slug – Enter the slug of your category 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 your category description in this field
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create your new group …
(Groups settings screen)
If you manage a business that employs many people, the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for founders, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To change or reassign Groups for specific items, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
Your selected item open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To change your 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 groups as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you have finished setting up your directory structure, the next step is to begin to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings screen)
This screen provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Permalink: You can edit the slug for each employee if you want (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Enter the person’s position here
- Email: Your employee’s email
- Phone Number: Enter the person’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in the person’s Twitter username (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. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign the individual to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options tab)
You will see options to enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Add Staff Member fields)
After you have entered each staff member’s details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you have not set up your directory groups before starting to add new staff members, you can create a new group 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 group and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new group will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign a person to the group …
(New group added)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to an employee or faculty 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).
***
After entering the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your employee directory …
Click View Post …
You can update your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you see an error like the one shown below, check that you have configured your site’s permalinks correctly …
(Not found error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, refer to this tutorial:
Keep adding more members to your employee or member directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you have finished adding staff members into your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all the directory items and details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, simply hover over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to update the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete an entry from the employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members details)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find a member if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search field)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …
(Screen Options tab)
Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to update your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order that listings appear on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order on your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to the desired position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added staff details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order that listings appear on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to its new position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding member listing details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin allows you to customize 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 directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Template)
The This code will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To display these fields, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your listings page should now look like …
(Directory listings with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with CSS code and template tags or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations you can use with the plugin.
For example, a useful variation you can decide to use to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales reps”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export page …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin support, go to the Simple Staff List plugin site and contact the plugin developer.
Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only for creating a directory of your employees in WordPress. Here are some other plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
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)
More info:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
Staff Directory lets you easily display a list of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
You can also create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
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 profiles in a widget area.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin lets you easily add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone, photo and staff bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.
Visitors will be able to 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 source: Company Directory website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just a single person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon 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 source: plugin website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
The Staffer 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 onsite employee directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Learn more here:
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
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add a list directory of staff members in your WordPress site without editing code.
Images of persons used to portray staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
***
"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)