You have no doubt heard that people tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.
If you are searching for quicker, easier and cheaper ways to sell more products online, then make it easier for your visitors to get to know your business better.
Adding a directory to your website can help boost your online credibility and get interested prospects to get in touch with you.
This tutorial explains how to add a simple and easy-to-update staff directory to WordPress.
How To Add An Employee Directory
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
Simple Staff List lets you build a simple staff directory list for.
The first step is to install and activate the plugin.
Log into your WP administration and in your admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu will appear in your main WP menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Configuring Simple Staff List
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can just start to add new staff member details at this at this stage, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualgroup members into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This loads the Groups settings in your browser …
(Groups settings)
Note: Adding groups works just like categories in WordPress …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your category. 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 – Enter the category description (optional)
- Click Add New Group when done to set up a new group name …
(Groups screen)
If you are a medium to large organization, having the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for partners, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories 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 groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To change Groups for a specific entry, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
Your selected category open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update when done …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click on Update Group to save your changes …
Continue adding group names to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, you can begin to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member settings …
(Add New Staff Member section)
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: Add your staff member’s name
- Slug: Change the slug associated with each employee if required (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s position
- Email: Enter the staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Type in the staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type the staff member’s Facebook URL here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type 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 staff members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign the person to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options tab)
You will see options to enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your employee’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
Once you have entered 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 categories before starting to add new staff members, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group feature)
A field will appear allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group added in Groups section)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing a staff member’s 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 entering your staff member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can edit the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your 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 ’not found’ page errors like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that you have set up your permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get a ‘page not found’ error)
If you need help setting up permalinks, refer to this tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding new details to your employee or member directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you have finished entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list displaying all your staff profiles and any details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to change individual details, just hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to edit their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from the employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Editing Staff Members profile details)
If you have many names to add, your table can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search field to locate listing items if necessary …
(Search members)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your preferences …
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 display on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its desired position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list)
Once you are done adding all of your employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which your staff members appear on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to a desired position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
After adding your employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin also lets you create the style and layout of your employee directory items 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 menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Template …
(Default Plugin Template)
The The code shown above displays your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To make these fields show up in the directory, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your listings page will now look like …
(Staff profiles with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with code 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 directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles 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 provides a list of all the shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
A useful shortcode variation you can decide to use, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales trainers”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export page …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need additional information about this plugin, go to the Simple Staff List faq page.
Other Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your faculty. For example, here are other free WordPress plugins you can look at for adding an employee directory on your website:
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)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With Staff Directory, you can easily create a directory of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
The plugin also lets you add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
This plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school 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 – Plugin For WordPress)
The Company Directory plugin lets you add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like position title, email address, phone number, photo and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors will be able to 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 sourced from Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just a single member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
Staffer 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 onsite employee directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
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 Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to easily add a simple and easy-to-update simple employee directory in your web site.
Models used to depict staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum