Business experts often raise the point that people often tend to buy from people they know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker and simpler ways to sell more products online, then help visitors get to know you, your team and your business better.
If your website runs on the WordPress Content Management System, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to use a staff list plugin that will let you add a directory listing with information about your partners, your business team, or your staff.
This tutorial explains how to create an easy-to-update directory of staff members in your website.
Adding A Staff Directory: Plugin Tutorial
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you employee (you could also use it to display partners, etc.).
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your WP administration and in your admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should 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 appear on your WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could start to add new staff details after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your employees.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory categories go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This brings up the Groups screen in your web browser …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Adding directory groups works just like categories in WordPress …
(Groups are like WordPress categories)
Create a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Type in the slug of your category. 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 – Enter your category description in this field (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create your new group …
(Groups settings)
If you manage a business that employs many people, having the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, project teams, 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 organize these into a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating each item …
To change or reassign Groups for a particular entry, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
Your selected group details will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group 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 over the group name and select Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button to save your changes …
Continue adding group names to this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This loads the Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member screen)
This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Add the staff member’s name
- Permalink: You can change the slug for your employee if you want (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s role
- Email: Type in the person’s email here
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in the person’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in the staff member’s Twitter username into this field (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. Since this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can format content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign an employee or faculty member to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options tab)
You can enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each staff member’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
Once you have entered details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups feature located in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group link)
A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign a person to the group …
(Groups box)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff member’s details. To edit a group entry, 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 …
To edit the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar, see this tutorial:
Note: If you get an error like the one shown below, check that your site’s permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Page error – Check your permalinks)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks here:
Continue adding more entries to your employee directory directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you have finished entering staff members to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the employees and details you have added related to each entry …
(Staff Members details list)
If you need to edit an individual’s details, hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from the staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Edit Staff Members details)
If you have many employees added to this section, your list can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to locate listing items …
(Search members)
The plugin also lets you 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)
Selecting a 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 save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that entries appear 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 item to its new location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list items)
After adding all staff listing details to the 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 set the order that listings display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to its desired location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
After adding your staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin also lets you customize the layout and style of your employee directory items 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 the main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(Templates screen)
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 used for displaying listings …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To display these fields, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown in the example below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Here is what your staff list should now look like …
(Staff profiles with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with editing code or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
A useful variation you can decide to use, for example, to display a list of persons belonging only to 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 inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options in your menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export page …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin support, visit the plugin site and request help from the plugin author.
Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Staff Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can look at to create an employee directory on your site:
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)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
This plugin lets you easily create a directory of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
The plugin lets you create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
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 a profile in a widget area.
Go here to learn more:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WP Plugin)
With Company Directory, you can add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email address, phone number, image and bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.
Visitors can 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)
This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, 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.
This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
Learn more here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin uses custom post types for staff/employee 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 source: Staffer website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
To learn more about the plugin go 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 List
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple employee or faculty directory to your WordPress site, so your site visitors can get to know you and your business better.
Images of models used to depict fictitious staff members in this tutorial 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)