It’s often said in business and marketing that people tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
Are you searching for simple ideas to sell more products or services online? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for your visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.
If you use WordPress, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to add a directory plugin that will let you display information about your key people, your business team, or your staff.
This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to create a simple and easy-to-update staff directory in your website.
Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory To Your Site
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you easily display information to visitors about your staff on your website.
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your administration and from the admin menu, choose 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 search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will see that a new menu will show up in the main WP admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
How To Configure The Plugin
Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could start adding new employee details at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourgroup members into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s set up your directory categories. From your WP dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups screen …
(Groups settings screen)
Note: Adding groups works in the same way as configuring categories …
(Groups are like categories)
Create a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Enter the slug of your group 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 nested categories
- Description – Enter a category description here (optional)
- Click Add New Group when done to create the new category …
(Groups settings)
If you run a business that employs many people, having the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories 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 on the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To change or reassign Groups for a particular item, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The item open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update to save your changes …
To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group to save your changes …
Add as many categories as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Add nested categories your directory)
After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to begin adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Staff Member area …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This area provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your staff member’s name
- Slug: Change each staff members’ slug (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Add the employee’s position
- Email: Type in the employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Add your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add the person’s Twitter username here (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 employee here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign the individual to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member fields)
Once you have entered each staff member’s details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you have not set up directory groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group link)
A field will display 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 Add New Group …
Your new category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff member’s details. To edit a group 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 modify your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the WP admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If errors shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that your site permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Not found error? Check your permalinks)
If you need help setting up WP permalinks, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Continue adding new details to your employee or faculty directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees into your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the employees and their details …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, hover over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to edit their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Edit Staff Members profile info)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can become unwieldy.
You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate listing items …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
You can specify which fields to display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which listings appear on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the desired position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
After adding your members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site users.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order in which your staff profiles display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to its new position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list)
After adding all member details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you create the layout and style of your employee directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Simple Staff List Templates screen)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To make these fields appear in your directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Your directory profiles will now display with Facebook and Twitter links as shown in the screenshot below …
(Directory with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with code or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
In addition to allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode section)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that you can use with the plugin.
For example, a useful variation you can insert in your page to display a list of staff members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales reps”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the main admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
This section lets you edit some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export menu …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List plugin website.
Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress employee directory plugin you can use. Here are some other plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory 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)
More info:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily display a list of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
The plugin lets you add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
For more details go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
Faculty And Staff Directory provides 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.
Learn more about the plugin here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, as well as fields like 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 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 simple shortcodes.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just one single 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 Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.
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: plugin website)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP 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 online employee directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
If the directory plugins listed above 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 List
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has helped you learn how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of staff to your website.
Images of models used to display fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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