Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people tend to buy from people they know, like and trust.
If you are looking for inexpensive ideas to sell more products or services online, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know you, your team and your organization better.
Adding a ‘Meet Our Team’ directory to your site is a great way to personalize your business.
In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to create and add a simple and easy-to-update list directory of employees in a WordPress site using free plugins.
Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee Directory
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 – WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a no cost WordPress plugin that lets you easily display information about your staff members on your website.
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your WP administration and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new menu entry will appear on the WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can just start adding new employee entries at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualgroup members into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by setting up your categories. From your WordPress dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups settings panel …
(Groups section)
Note: Setting up groups is very similar to working with WordPress categories …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your category name here
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group 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 a directory hierarchy
- Description – Enter a category description here (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new group …
(Groups area)
If you work with a business that employs many people, being able to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for partners, developers, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To change Groups for individual items, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …
Your selected category details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent category from the Parent drop-down 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 click on Quick Edit …
Click Update Group to save your changes …
Continue adding categories in this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you have finished setting up your directory structure, the next step is to begin adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings area)
This section provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Permalink: Edit each staff members’ slug (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The staff member’s position
- Email: Your staff member’s email address
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Add your staff member’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add the person’s Twitter username (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: This section lets you assign your staff member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).
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 New Staff Member settings)
Once you have finished inputting each staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up categories before starting to add staff member details, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for creating your new group name will appear, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new category will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign the entry to the group …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited 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 above for details).
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After typing in your team member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To edit the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that you have configured your permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks in WordPress here:
Keep adding more members to your employee directory directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employee details to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list displaying all the directory items and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to edit individual details, just hover over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove an entry from your directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Editing Staff Members profile information)
If you have many names to add, your table can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find entries if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search field)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which entries show on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in your main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to its new position …
(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added all of your staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that entries show on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to its new location …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding members’ details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you customize the style and layout of your staff directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – 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 the Default Template …
(Default Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To make these fields show up in the directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your staff list will now look like …
(Employee profiles with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess with editing code or are not sure what to do, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
In addition to allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your WP admin menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)
This screen lists all the shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.
For example, a useful variation you can choose to display a list of staff members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales reps”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)
Here you can change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
You can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export section …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need plugin help or support, go to the plugin support page.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a listing of your employees in WordPress. Here are some other plugins you can check out to add an employee directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
This 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)
More info:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily display a list of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
You can also add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
The Faculty And Staff Directory 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 here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin lets you easily add your staff to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone, photo and 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 employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just one single member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of 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 source: plugin website)
For more details go here:
Staffer
(Staffer)
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 onsite staff 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.
For more details 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 Directory Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site without using code, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Images used to display 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