Consumer behaviour research shows that people will mostly buy from people they already know, like and trust.
Are you looking for quicker and easier ways to sell more products online and get people to engage more with your site? Then something you can do, is make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust your organization better.
If you are a WordPress user, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to display information about your partners, your team, or your employees using a staff list plugin.
This tutorial explains how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain employee directory to your site.
Adding An Employee List Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you create a basic staff directory list for.
The first step is to install and activate the plugin.
Log into the administration and from the admin menu section, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, you will notice that new entry will show up in your main WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
The Staff Members menu is where you will manage and configure all of the options and settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on how many people are employed in your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can just start adding new employee details at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place yourstaff members into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory groups go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This opens up the Groups section …
(Groups settings)
Note: Adding groups works in the same way as adding WordPress categories …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group category name here
- Slug – Enter the slug of your category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up nested categories
- Description – Type in a group description here (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create the new group name …
(Groups settings area)
If you are a larger organization, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To edit Groups for individual items, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
Your selected item open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button when done …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click the Update Group button after making changes …
Add as many groups as you need to until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested groups to your directory)
Once you are done setting up your groups, you can begin to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member settings screen)
This section provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Permalink: Change your employees’ permalink URL (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s role
- Email: Add the employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type the staff member’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in your staff member’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your employee here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can format content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign a staff or faculty member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
You will see options to enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member fields)
Once you are done inputting each of you staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups section in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you have not set up categories before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group)
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 category and click on Add New Group …
A new category will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(Groups section)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing employee 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 filling in your staff or faculty member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can edit your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the 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 you have set up groups and get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly configured your site permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get errors)
For a detailed tutorial on setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:
Continue adding new members to your directory directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you are done entering employee details to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your staff profiles and the details you have added related to each entry …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to edit individual entries, hover your mouse over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a listing from your staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Editing Staff Members profile information)
If you have many names to add, your list can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find entries …
(Search Staff Members search box)
You can specify which fields to display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options)
Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to the desired position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that your employees appear on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to the desired position …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to display your directory on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to edit 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 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 allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Plugin Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To make these fields appear in the directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Your staff listings will now display with Facebook and Twitter addresses as shown in the screenshot below …
(Directory with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with code or are not sure what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
A useful variation you can decide to use, for example, to display only members belonging 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 adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options on the dashboard menu …
(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 info by going to the menu and choosing Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need any help with the Simple Staff List plugin, visit the plugin support page and request help from the plugin author.
Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. Here are a few other free plugins you can check out to create a directory on your site:
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)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
With Staff Directory, you can easily create a directory of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
The plugin also lets you add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
This plugin was developed to provide 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 – Plugin For WordPress)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone, pic 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 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 plugin website)
This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just an individual person 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 screen size of 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: plugin website)
For more details go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
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 online staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
For more details go 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 Directory Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple staff directory to your WordPress site, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Models used to portray sample staff members 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