Consumer buying habits show that people often tend to buy from people they already know, like and trust.
Are you searching for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online? Then one of the things you can do, is help prospects get to know, like and trust your organization better.
Adding a directory of employees to your site can help to personalize your organization.
In this tutorial, we explain how to easily create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain simple staff directory to your site using a free WordPress plugin.
Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory To Your Site
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List)
Simple Staff List is free and lets you staff.
First, let’s install and activate this plugin.
Log into the administration and in your admin menu, click on Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, you will notice that new menu entry will appear in the WordPress menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
This menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can start to add new entries at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your members.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s configure your groups. In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups panel …
(Groups screen)
Note: Adding groups is similar to creating categories in WordPress …
(Groups work like categories)
Create new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Type in the slug of your group. 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 a directory hierarchy
- Description – Enter the category description here
- Click Add New Group when finished to create a new group …
(Groups area)
If you are a business that employs many people, the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for partners, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested categories as you want 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 creating each new item …
To edit Groups for individual items, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The item will display in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button when done …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose Quick Edit …
Click Update Group after making changes …
Continue adding groups to this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to begin adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Staff Member settings …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This section provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Enter the employee’s name
- Permalink: Change the slug associated with your employee if required (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s role
- Email: The employee’s email address
- 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: Type the person’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 member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign the person to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(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 …
(Add Staff Member fields)
After you have entered each staff member’s details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups box located in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can add a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for creating your new group name will appear, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on the Add New Group button …
A new directory category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing a person’s details. To edit an 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 the person’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can edit your staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If you have set up groups and get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that you have configured your site’s permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get a ‘page not found’ error)
To learn more about setting up WP permalinks, refer to this tutorial:
Keep adding new entries to your staff directory directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your staff members and details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to edit individual details, hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to modify the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove an entry from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Edit Staff Members info)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate member details if required …
(Search Staff Members search field)
You can specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which entries display on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to the new location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list items)
After adding your members’ details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to the new location …
(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
After adding your members’ details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you edit the style and layout of your directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Template …
(Default 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 listing. To make these fields show up in the directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Your employee details will now display with Facebook and Twitter addresses as shown in the example below …
(Directory with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with code or are not sure 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 listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List shortcodes)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations that you can use.
For example, a useful variation you can select 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”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Choose Staff Members >Options in the main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – Options screen)
Here you can change some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members details by going to your menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need specific help with the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the Simple Staff List website and request help from the plugin author.
Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a listing of your staff. For example, here are other plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
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 – Plugin For WordPress)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily create a directory of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
You can also use custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
For more details go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide 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 profiles in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
The Company Directory plugin lets you add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone number, photo 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 read 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)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just one single member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
With Employee Spotlight, you also get 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 source: Employee Spotlight website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
The Staffer 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 a staff directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular 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, search the WordPress plugin directory or go online and search for:
- Add Staff Directory To WordPress
- WordPress Staff Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an easy-to-update simple faculty directory in in WordPress using a free plugin.
Images of persons used to depict fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum