No doubt you’ve heard that people generally buy from those they know, like and trust.
Are you looking for inexpensive ideas to sell more products or services online? Then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.
If you own a WordPress-powered website, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to add a directory plugin that lets you display information about your key partners, your business team, or your staff members.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we explain how to easily create and add an easy-to-maintain simple team members directory to your site using a free WP plugin.
WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a no cost plugin that lets you staff.
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new entry will appear on your WordPress menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
Here is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Plugin Configuration
Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can start to add new employee details after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualgroup members into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by setting up your categories. From your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups settings …
(Groups area)
Note: Setting up groups is similar to creating categories …
(Groups work just like categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your 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 if you plan to set up nested groups
- Description – Type in a category description in this field
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create your new category …
(Groups settings)
If you work with a larger organization, the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for partners, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many groups 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 the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To edit or reassign Groups for an entry, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
Your selected group details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update when done …
To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click Update Group when done …
Continue adding groups in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
After you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start to add your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Staff Member settings …
(Add New Staff Member settings screen)
This page provides you with 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: You can edit the slug associated with each employee if you want (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The employee’s position
- Email: The staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter the person’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 members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign the individual to a specific group (see above 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 tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
After you are done inputting your staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups box in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you have not set up groups before starting to add new staff members, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …
Your new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an individual to the group …
(Groups section)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to employee details. To edit a group 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 filling in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …
Click View Post …
You can modify your employee’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using the WP admin toolbar here:
Note: If you see ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that you have configured your permalinks correctly …
(Page error? Check your permalinks)
If you need help setting up permalinks, go here:
Continue adding new details to your directory directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you have entered all employee or faculty members into your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all the staff profiles and the details you have added related to each entry …
(Staff Members details list)
If you need to modify an individual’s details, just hover your mouse 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 remove someone from your directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile info)
If you have many entries, your list can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate member details if required …
(Search Staff Members search box)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this screen. To show 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 display or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which entries show on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to its desired position …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your staff details to your directory, the next step is to display your directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order in which listings show on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to a new position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you edit the layout and style of your staff list entries 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 your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To make these fields display in the directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Your employee details will now appear with Facebook and Twitter links as as shown below …
(Employee profiles with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess around with CSS styles and template tags or are not sure what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations you can use with the plugin.
For example, a useful variation you can select to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”partners”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options in your WP admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Options settings)
Here you can edit some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members details by going to your main admin menu and choosing Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need specific help with this plugin, visit the plugin support page.
Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories
Simple Staff List isn’t the only WordPress employee directory plugin you can use. Here are a few other plugins you can use for creating a directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Modern Team Staff Directory 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 the plugin go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily create a directory of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
The plugin lets you create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
For more details go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Faculty And Staff Directory 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 a profile in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WP Plugin)
The Company Directory plugin lets you easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and table views, as well as fields like title, email address, phone, image and member 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
Learn more about this plugin here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just a single person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
Employee Spotlight comes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
Go here to learn more:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
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 onsite employee directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
More info:
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
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple staff or faculty directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so your web visitors can get to know you and the people in your team better.
Images of models used to display fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"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)