Consumer buying habits have successfully shown that people often tend to buy from people they already know, like and trust.
Are you searching for quicker and simpler ways to grow your business online? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know your organization better.
If your website is driven by the WordPress CMS, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to use a staff list plugin that will let you add a directory containing information about your key partners, your business team, or your staff members.
This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to create and add an easy-to-update employee directory to your web site.
Adding A Staff List Directory
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a free plugin that lets you display information about your employee on your website.
First, let’s install and activate this plugin.
Log into your WordPress administration and go to Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new menu entry will show up in the WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Plugin Configuration
Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just begin to add new staff details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s set up your groups. In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings up the Groups area …
(Groups area)
Note: Configuring groups is very similar to creating categories in WordPress …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group category name here
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group category name. 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 group description in this field
- Click Add New Group when finished to set up the new category …
(Groups section)
If you manage a business that employs many people, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, developers, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To change Groups for specific entries, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The selected item will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update to save your changes …
To change the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click Update Group when done to save your changes …
Continue adding group names in this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested categories your staff directory)
Once you have finished setting up your groups, you can start to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member section …
(Add New Staff Member screen)
This screen provides you with 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
- Permalink: Modify the slug for each employee if you want (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s role
- Email: Your staff member’s email address
- Phone Number: Enter the person’s phone number here
- Facebook URL: Type in the person’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter your company’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 employee here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign the individual to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
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 …
(Add Staff Member settings)
After you have entered your staff member’s details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups feature located in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up categories before adding new staff members, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group link)
A field for entering your new group name will appear, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …
Your new group will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign the person’s listing to the group …
(New group added via Groups box)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an employee’s details. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After typing in the person’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To make changes to your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
If you need help using the admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If you have set up groups and get a ‘page not found’ error like the one shown below, check that you have correctly set up your site’s permalinks …
(Page error? Check your permalinks)
If you need help setting up permalinks, go here:
Keep adding more details to your staff directory directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employee or team members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list of all your staff profiles and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to change individual entries, simply hover your mouse over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to make changes to their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from your directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members details)
If you have many names to add, your list can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate member details …
(Search Staff Members search field)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which listings display on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to the new location …
(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which entries display on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on your WP admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to a desired position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added members’ details to the directory, the next step is to add your directory on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to edit the layout and style 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 dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Templates page)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is the Default Template …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop 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 example. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your staff list should now look like …
(Employee profiles with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with CSS code and template tags or are not sure what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen lists all the shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.
A useful variation you can add, for example, to display a list of individuals 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 adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In your main menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Options screen)
This section lets you modify some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export menu …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List site and contact the plugin developer.
Other Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to display a faculty directory in WordPress. For example, here are a few other plugins you can use to add a staff directory on your site:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
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)
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily display a list of staff/faculty/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
You can also use custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide 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 about this plugin:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Company Directory lets you easily add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like job title, email address, phone, image and member 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 source: plugin website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
For more details go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just one single person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
Employee Spotlight comes with two sidebar widgets which 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 employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Plugin)
Staffer 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 online employee directory …
(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 about the plugin 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 Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know your team better.
Images of models used to portray fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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